The perception of women in science education in primary and secondary aducations. Is it equitable or stereotyped?

Abstract

Gender equality is a fundamental aspect in the current society, and also in science education. Science classes are the source through which scientific information reaches the public. Therefore, this paper analyses aspects of science education, raising two hypotheses: the presence of women is scarce (H1); the perception of gender is stereotyped (H2). They are verified by two exploratory studies. The first, H1, analyzes the illustrations of six science textbooks, 3 of 5th and 3 of 6th grade of Primary Education (PE). Four categories were used:complete, partial, group,and according to the gender of thefiguresthatappeared in theillustrations, including neutral. The results show a great disparity in the representation of the male and female genders, much more abundant in the figures of men. The second one, H2, explores whether the perception of gender that the students of Secondary Education, SE have is stereotyped. We worked with a sample of convenience of students from 4th of Compulsory SE and High School, HS, 404, who filled in a form. A high percentage of the student body agreed with an even perception of the scientific profession. In relation to the acceptance of stereotypes, they are more prevalent among CSE students than HS, and more so in rural environments. Therefore, the two hypotheses are tested, and it is concluded that awareness actions on gender equality in formal science education are needed in the compulsory stages.

Keywords

• educación primaria
• educación secundaria
• estereotipos
• libros de texto