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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

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Original poster

Would a move back to single sex education help our girls?

329 replies

BalletBunting · 14/06/2019 15:15

I've been meditating on this recently - particularly seeing reports of the shocking levels of sexual harassment girls experience at school, as well as seeing the levels of gender stereotyping both my DC (one of each) have experienced since they were born. It made me wonder whether a move back to more single sex schools (for secondary at least) could actually have a positive effect on children of both sexes (and girls in particular)

Less sexual harassment, less stereotyping and as I understand the research shows that children do better in single sex environments, where they don't feel they need to 'perform' for the opposite sex. It also means that difficulties of puberty including hormones, menstruation etc can be dealt with in what might feel like a more safe environment.
Thoughts?

OP posts:
Original poster
BalletBunting · 14/06/2019 15:38

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35419284
And there aren't 'plenty of options' unless you can go private.

OP posts:
3timeslucky · 14/06/2019 15:33

I come from a country with a great deal of sex segregated education and I'm a "no thanks".

Taken to its logical conclusion girls should stay at home in splendid isolation and are thus be fully protected fro sexism. Single sex schools do not protect girls from the world at large. They still have to deal with the harassment and stereotyping. IME there's less stereotyping in schools than there is outside. So no protection is offered through segregation. Nor does segregation prepare them for the inevitability of joining the real world and having to deal with a world filled with men. I'd rather my kids learned to work with classmates of both sexes as preparation for the world, than view the opposite sex as "other" and possibly just as social playthings.

My understanding is that the research on single sex schools that suggests that girls perform better academically in single sex schools has been debunked. In fact girls outperform boys academically across the board.

CassianAndor · 14/06/2019 15:32

we will be aiming to send DD to a girls' secondary school - always had this in mind for her and now feel very strongly about this indeed.

There certainly aren't 'plenty of options' - we are not the the catchment for any girls' school, so we will move or go private.

camaleon · 14/06/2019 15:26

There are plenty of single sex education options in the UK. If you feel this strong about it, go for one of those options. Are you suggesting this should be done by law with everybody forced into single sex education?

Single- sex education may have advantages but it is not the norm in societies with particularly good indicators in terms of equality between men and women.