KWDI Korean Women’s Development Institute

The objective of this study is to examine various activities in elementary, middle and high schools that promote or impede gender equality. This study is the 4th-year project of a series of studies that looked into gender equality at work and at home. This study has looked at how gender roles are divided in academic, extracurricular, and interpersonal activities in elementary, middle and high schools, as well as in class and school, and for jobs and household activities in the future, by school-related variables (school levels, whether it is a co-ed school, the extent to which a culture of gender equality has spread in the school, teacher's teaching styles etc.), and individual-related variables (home environment, gender role egalitarianism, gender identity, ambivalent sexism, etc.). To this end, this study has surveyed 7792 elementary and middle school students (3998 males and 3794 females), 1800 parents (870 males and 930 females) and 1200 teachers (424 males and 776 females) and carried out FGIs (focus group interview) with students, parents, and teachers.

The results indicate that the degree of gender egalitarianism, gender separation in academic and extracurricular activities, and sexual division of roles vary widely depending on school-related variables and individual characteristic-related variables. First, analysis of the degree of gender egalitarianism indicates that the higher the school level, the more established the value system of the student is w ith regard to gender relationships. Among male students, high school students have shown a lower degree of gender egalitarianism than middle school students. When it comes to the degree of gender egalitarianism among elementary and middle school students, students of schools or families with a higher degree of gender equality have show n a higher degree of gender egalitarianism. Analysis of the degree of gender egalitarianism among teachers indicates that older teachers or those with a longer career have a lower degree of gender egalitarianism. Meanwhile, when it comes to parents, mothers have shown a higher degree of gender egalitarianism than fathers; in particular, the degree of gender egalitarianism of fathers is relatively highly influenced by the gender composition of their children. Fathers with only one daughter have shown the highest degree of gender egalitarianism, which is even higher than the degree of gender egalitarianism among mothers. However, while the degree of gender egalitarianism of parents with a son and a daughter is significantly higher than that of parents with only sons, it is a lot lower than that of parents with only one daughter or more than one daughter.

Second, in the results of this status survey, while the hostile sexism among elementary, middle, and high school students differ widely between males and females, there is little difference between males and females in terms of benevolent sexism. This result suggests that benevolent sexism is not generally regarded as sexual discrimination because it is aimed at protecting females and is positive on the surface.

Third, analysis of the level of participation of elementary, middle, and high school students in academic, extracurricular, and interpersonal activities indicates that while male students show a higher tendency to participate in physical and outdoor activities, female students prefer communicative or indoor activities.

Fourth, in the task of dividing roles for future jobs of elementary, middle and high school students, “long distance business trip” and “essential operation” have been mostly assigned to males, while roles for customer counseling” or “preparation of food, beverages and snacks” have been mostly assigned to females. When it comes to the intention of participating in household activities, the gender difference is smaller than the gender difference in the survey of division of household activities among adults; but it has been found that gender role differentiation is already pervasive among elementary school students. Fifth, when it comes to division of gender roles and intention of participating in household activities, gender differences are less obvious if the school has a more equality-based culture, if the degree of gender egalitarianism is higher, and if the degree of benevolent sexism is lower. In the survey of how gender differences are affected by parents and teachers in the division of roles, gender differences are less obvious if the degree of the father’s participation in dietary life-related household activities is higher and if the degree of the mother’s participation in the decision-making process of the family is higher. Gender differences are smaller in division of roles among students if their teachers have completed training on gender equality, while gender differences are more obvious in division of roles if their teachers expect male students to pursue a success-oriented career and expect female students to choose a stability-oriented career.

The results of this study suggest that it is necessary to develop various policy-based plans for school, family and authorities in order to do away with juveniles’ stereotypes about gender roles and reduce the inequalities in division of gender roles. Accordingly, this study has discussed development of programs aimed at having juveniles put gender equality into practice and raising the degree of egalitarianism among them; establishment of divisions responsible for gender equality policies at the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology and local offices of education in order to improve gender equality in elementary, middle, and high schools; expansion of assignment of management positions to female teachers; improvement of gender equality training programs for teachers; and development of gender equality programs and content for parents’participation