Institutionalized Sexism in Early Childhood Education

According to Ayim and Houston (1996), sexism can be defined as “any attempt to see the value of a persons or their activities as determined by their sex” (p.16). In education, sexism presents itself in the difference in treatment of boys versus girls by teachers and throughout the curriculum. Unfortunately, this may attribute to the achievement gap in schools. The achievement gap created through sexism in early education “entails separate educational tracts for girls and boys that lead in opposite directions, this stance effectively rejects both the common humanity of the two sexes and the centuries-old struggle for gender equality” (Martin, 1996, p. ix). This research expressed how sexism existed in the past and in what ways it exists or does not exist in early education classrooms today. This study has two purposes. The first was to look at how institutionalized sexism has been defined for early education. The second purpose of this study was to determine if there is sexism within early childhood education (PreK-2) classrooms. Therefore, the research question is: How do teachers’ interactions with students influence institutionalized sexism in Early Education (PreK-2) classrooms? Data was collected through classroom observations over one academic year and interviews with three elementary school teachers and two preschool teachers in the San Francisco Bay area. This study is important because the results of this study will provide updated understanding on sexism in early education today and how it is or is not being addressed