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Unconsciously, gender inequality can be happened in school although school is a place to find education, knowledge and truth. All teachers should know
Sharma‟s statement and do the actions like what Jasvinder had done to prevent gender inequality in school. The suggestions for fostering gender equality are
1. Constructing Gender Equality in Teaching Material
Looking at the fact happening in some countries, there are common examples of gender inequality in school. First, the ambiguous pictures and the
statements can be easily found in an assignment. It is commonly used in the teaching material for elementary school even kindergarten. For example
UNIT 2
DAILY ROUTINES
TASK 1
Fill the following questions with the correct answer on the right
1. __________ goes to work everyday.
a. My sister 2.
_________ cooks a meal every morning. b. My father
3. _________ plays football on Friday.
c. My mother 4.
_________ waters the flower twice a week. d. My brother
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The example shows gender bias. Students should answer with the correct a
nswer which shows the daily routines. The correct answer of number one is “ My father goes to work everyday”, if the students fill it with “My mother” it means
wrong. The mother should cooks everyday, the father should work, the sister should do woman‟s activities like watering the flower and the brother should play
football. It shows that gender inequality can be happen in education. According to Mewborn 1999, to solve the problem of gender inequality
in teaching material, the teacher should replace the material or give explanation to students why the teacher use it. Using biased materials reinforces the idea that
women are not valued contributors to a particular field of study. It may be necessary to use biased materials, either because a particular text
is mandated by your school or because the content of the material is particularly good. In those cases, explain to students that you recognize the
materials are biased, explain why you are using them and the importance of the materials.
” Mewborn, 1999
2. Building Gender Equality in Teachers’ Treatment toward the Students
Teachers need to treat students equally so that all students can participate all teaching learning activities regardless of gender. A good example is to give
opportunity and responsibility for girls to be the leader of the class or in another non academic organization such as extracurricular activities. Girls must have
equal rights as boys. According to Scantlebury 2009 in her journal entitled Gender bias in
teaching , A common response from teachers when asked about gender inequity in
classrooms is that they treat all of their students the same.
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There are two problems when this statement. First, students are diverse and have different learning issues, thus treating all students in the same
way means that some students will have a better learning experience than their peers. Second, teachers may be ignoring their unconscious gender
biases towards their students, their schools and themselves. If ignored, these gender biases, which may have developed from cultural norms, may
lead to bias in the classroom. Scantlebury,2009 Teachers need to make sure that all of the students receive equal
instructions, explanations, treatments and reinforcements to their students. However, the other way to respect gender is to understand that boys and girls are
different. They have their own interests and ability. Teacher should respect students‟ gender by giving them equal rights, help them to aware gender equality
and help the students to dig their potentials. Teacher also should participate in trainings and activities to help the students become more aware of issues
regarding gender inequality and develop strategies to improve better classroom
environment.
C. Suggestions for Future Research
In this part the writer would like to provide some suggestions for future researchers who might be interested in analyzing Daughters of Shame. Daughters
of Shame is a biographical novel, which means it is based upon true events and
figures. It is an interesting novel which encourages the researchers to analyze every part of the novel. The novel can lead the emotion of the reader to take the
same action as Jasvinder has done. In this novel, there are many aspects of feminism that we can get by analyzing such as gender, sex inequality, domestic
