Sparking discussions on gender in your class

Increased involvement of women in psychology gives rise to new questions, new interpretations and new theoretical approaches.

By APA?s Task Force on Diversity Issues at the Precollege and Undergraduate Levels of Education in Psychology

Most teachers today realize that leaving women out of their lectures gives a misleading picture of psychology. Teachers of psychology can play a critical role in eradicating inequalities, dispelling harmful contemporary stereotypes (such as the superwoman syndrome), and producing more informed consumers regarding health-care practices. We live in a society in which 'sex matters,' and students need to understand gender issues in social context so that they can begin to challenge deeply held belief systems that privilege one sex over the other. There is evidence in the psychology-of-women literature that inclusiveness has a positive impact on both male and female students? views, especially when it is gender-balanced.

There has been a dramatic increase in information on sex and gender both in the field of psychology and in contemporary introductory psychology textbooks. As a teacher, you already are exposing students to the new scholarship on women. However, you may wish to expand on textbook offerings or create new classroom dialogues about gender issues that broaden students? appreciation for the contributions and experiences of women. We address here three broad areas for you to consider in discussing gender and the psychology of women with the students enrolled in your psychology classes:

? What images are you presenting to your students?

? What questions are you posing to your students?

? What pedagogical techniques might you use to empower your students?

The power of images

Most overtly negative images of women have disappeared from introductory psychology texts. However, positive images may overcorrect in ways that perpetuate limited views of women. For instance, when presenting images of women, do you include as examples only exceptional women, or women who have achieved success in careers traditionally reserved for men?for example, doctors, astronauts and CEOs?

Such examples may leave students feeling that only the extraordinary are worthy of recognition. Moreover, these examples ignore sexism and the related obstacles that may interfere with a woman?s quest for personal success. You can create a more gender-balanced view of psychology by exposing students to female psychologists who have largely been ignored in the history of the discipline, including Mary Cover Jones, Helen Deutsch, Anna Freud, Carolyn Sherif, Martha Bernal, Mamie Phipps Clark, Sandra Bem, Anne Anastasi, Janet Taylor Spence, Helen Thompson Woolley and Eleanor Maccoby. Students writing biographical sketches about these women can highlight the obstacles they had to overcome in their work, as well as note their family and other life roles. Many resources exist to help students identify material about female psychologists (see Paludi, 1991).

Asking the right questions

As teachers of psychology, we can help our students move away from stereotypic thinking and implicit assumptions that female behavior is problematic. A good starting point is examining how your textbook addresses gender. Does it ignore gender differences altogether, discuss women only in relation to negative behaviors, or present women?s experiences and behaviors always in comparison to a male standard?

In the 1995 APA publication entitled 'Including Diverse Women in the Undergraduate Curriculum: Reasons and Resources,' the authors offer several reframed questions. Instead of examining the problem of females? passivity, students can analyze why female 'passivity' is not more commonly called 'cooperation' or 'going with the flow.'

Also, why does research on dependence and independence focus on the problem of women?s dependence? Teachers can help students explore situations in which dependence or independence are advantageous or not. These are not absolutes?the consequences of any trait depend on the context. Similarly, why label women as 'field dependent,' and men 'field independent'? Maybe the idea of 'field sensitivity' and 'field independence' can convey that both traits can be functional for males and females.

Feminist psychologists have pointed out the inherent bias in pejorative labeling and language that defines female characteristics as inferior or pathological. For example, 'dependent personality disorder' is a diagnostic category used almost exclusively for women. However there is no parallel 'independent personality disorder' category for men. As you cover topics in your introductory class, ask your students questions about language usage and labels to help them understand the power of words, and that even the most interesting and empirically supported theories can promote a biased view of women and men. Whenever possible, offer alternative perspectives to encourage students to question existing knowledge and develop a more balanced perspective regarding gender in psychology.

Empowering students

You can use classroom debate to encourage lively discussions of gender issues in psychology. To avoid the traditional debate format that can become confrontational and competitive, Lisa Elliot, PhD, of Hunter College, has developed a classroom debate format that stresses participation by all students, active and cooperative learning, and critical thinking. Debates allow the presentation of multiple points of view and thus can be very useful in demonstrating the complexity of gender research and how different research approaches affect the knowledge we obtain.

As students work on their speeches in preparation for debate, they are actively learning and thinking about their position on a topic. Moreover, their opinions may actually change as a result of the debate itself. In Elliot?s format, students take many different roles. For example, there are speakers/debaters, judges of the debate, timekeepers, observers and follow-up discussants. Class discussion following the debate further engages members of the class. Thus, students who are typically reluctant to participate become involved as they assume assigned roles and participate under the guise of acting as a leading expert on a topic.

You can help your class select a debate topic by identifying two sides of a position from a topic in the textbook, a class discussion or even a film. A handy resource, 'Women, Men, and Gender,' edited by Mary Roth Walsh, PhD, of the University of Massachusetts?Lowell, outlines a series of debate topics and provides support material to help students understand and argue their positions effectively. Classroom debates can help students examine and learn about the content of specific controversial topics, and they can illustrate principles of social psychology and attitude change through an examination of how one can or can?t be persuaded to change one?s mind about a topic.

You can also use journal writing as an effective way of teaching about gender. Journals allow students to write about personal experiences that they may not wish to share orally and provide a way for students to personalize what they are studying. Depending on the size of your class, you may want to use the journal only for a limited time or for a certain topic, for example, in examining gender stereotyping in advertisements. Advertisements from magazines or television can be shared with the class and included in journals, and students should be encouraged to express in writing their feelings and connections they are making about the topic under consideration. By writing about and reflecting upon their emotions, students begin assessing their values, recognizing their own underlying biases and coming to understand human behavior and its psychosocial aspects.

You can share sections of students? journals with the class by typing and distributing anonymous entries that present diverse points of view on a topic. Thus, you can illustrate differing gender perspectives in a safe way?an approach that may be particularly useful when students are just beginning to know one another and are not yet comfortable openly sharing divergent opinions.

Journals can also be a useful tool for teachers, who may not know exactly what students are thinking or feeling during a class discussion. What you learn from reviewing journal entries may help you determine additional information that needs to be incorporated into future class discussions, as you work toward creating a more gender-balanced view of psychology.

The key is to discover what your students find exciting and then use that energy in creating classroom activities. By introducing into your classroom pedagogical approaches that actively engage students in learning about and wrestling with emotionally charged material, you are expanding their repertoire of experiences and tapping into their internal processes of feeling, thinking, forming and articulating their ideas. As teachers of psychology, we can help our students think critically about men, women, their roles in society and their place in psychological knowledge. These students will then become future practi-tioners and researchers who will perpetuate psychology as a truly inclusive science.

This article is the seventh in a series by the APA Board of Educational Affair?s Task Force on Diversity Issues at the Precollege and Undergraduate Levels of Education in Psychology. The group is working to promote the teaching of psychology as a more inclusive discipline. The task force seeks to find constructive ways of supporting teachers? efforts to convey research findings on diverse groups and address such issues as gender, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation and disability. The task force members are A. Toy Caldwell-Colbert, PhD, Ruth E. Fassinger, PhD, Joseph J. Horvat, Jr., PhD, Joe Lamas, Linda Mona, PhD, John N. Mortisugu, PhD, and chair Carole E. Wade, PhD.

References and resources
? APA?s Task Force on Representation in the Curriculum of the Division of Psychology of Women (1995). 'Including diverse women in the undergraduate curriculum: reasons and resources.'
? Silverman, T. Integrating the new scholarship into introductory psychology' in 'Creating an Inclusive College Curriculum: The New Jersey Project.' Eds.: E G. Friedman, W.K. Kolmar, C. B. Flint, and P. Rothenberg (Teachers College Press, 1996).
? Paludi, M.A. Placing women psychologists in the psychology of women course. Teaching of Psychology, p. 172?174, 1991.
? Elliot, L.B. Using debate to teach the psychology of women. Teaching of Psychology, p. 35?40, 1993.
? Walsh, M.R. 'Women, Men, and Gender.' Yale University Press (1997).