School axes head boy and head girl roles, two boys are voted into new gender neutral positions

[Kookabura]

Link to telegraph article here: www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2018/04/17/grammar-school-axes-head-boy-head-girl-roles-bid-establish-gender/

She said she does not want students to see jobs as being “gender specific”, and the new position titles prepare children for the workplace

Well it's certainly preparing the girls to be passed over in favour of male leadership isn't it?

Yes the answer to bridging the gap is to not make sure girls are anything to look up to. Like girls is a dirty word

Someone made a point in a thread about gender stereotyping that even gender neutral seems to default to maleness. Seems to have happened in this case.

Another situation where a female losing out on something is framed as progressive.

For the love of God please make this madness stop!

what a surpise.

Well I guess they might as well get used to it at school now - as you say, this is what will happen to them in the workplace anyway.

What the fuck?! That is awful.

What a load of bollocks. There is a reason we need all women shortlists. Boys and girls grow up with the idea of men making better leaders/ they vote for men/ the only visible examples of leaders are men/ the cycle continues.
It’s pretty simple to understand. I’m disappointed that someone could reach the position of headteacher or indeed headmistress and fail to grasp this concept.

Thats fucking awful

One assumes that none of those supposedly educated people have realised the glaring issue even though it's literally staring them in the face

This year two boys took the roles of chair and vice chairperson of the board with three girls sitting on the team. Mrs Coffey said she would look to address any issues with imbalance and hopes to destroy stereotypical gender roles.

'the team' 🤣

She doesn’t seem to understand the difference between stereotyping (assuming that boys/girls can or cannot do things because of their sex) and recognising that their are differences between boys and girls (mostly biological but also social/cultural) which mean that they each require representation for a system to be cognisant of their separate needs.

I was head girl. A friend criticised the head boy as not being very effective. I said that I felt I was equally ineffective.

My friend said "that's alright, the head girl is more there to help the head boy - it's his fault."

that was 1989

Depressing, but the comments are gold.

Depressing, but the comments are gold.

Mostly men, I notice.

Men seem to have a lot less tolerance than women for bullshit. Plus they don't get attacked for calling bullshit, while women get accused of being transphobic or feminazis.

Does Mrs. Coffey's husband assume a 'gender neutral' role in the bedroom?

Just asking .........................

^
My favourite comment.

Who on earth decided that two boys would do a better job than any number of girls.
it is well recognised that girls achieve more in secondary school than boys, they have better results in exams and they are also less disruptive and better behaved. That might be socialisation, but it might also be a fact that girls are better students at this age.

but not better leaders, I suppose?

My daughter ran for head girl and was up against 5 other girls. In the boys category, only one boy applied and therefore was a shoe-in. I wonder if in this case, this school would have chosen 2 girls?

Ensuring equality despite ability is essential at this age as it is about being representative. it may not be indicative of what they will see when they are working, but it will make them assume that sex equality will be the default and that is actually a good lesson to learn - they will then question inequality when it inevitably happens.

It seems that the result of being gender neutral is to naturally favour boys. You can't have gender neutrality until stereotypes and biases no longer exist. Until then forced equality needs to happen as unpalatable as it may be to some.

I posted but can't see it. Probably too political.

Gender neutral, the new term for sexism

Yep

How can.problems be solved if you can't see them and aren't allowed to use the correct words to describe you see.

I only hope that as more of this is reported that it opens peoples eyes to what's happening.

rememberthetime

It seems that the result of being gender neutral is to naturally favour boys. You can't have gender neutrality until stereotypes and biases no longer exist. Until then forced equality needs to happen as unpalatable as it may be to some

That statement seems a little uncalled for. I mean do you have any actual evidence that the school voted for/chose those boys based on the stereotype that boys make better leaders? Do you have any knowledge of what actually went on, or are you just assuming there must have been a better girl for the job, but those bloody biased kids eh?

Forced equality? That's not equality.

And once more, I'm reminded of why single sex schools can - paradoxically- be so good at avoiding gender stereotypes. In a single sex school, every member of the 'sixth form leadership team' (or whatever) is chosen for their ability not their sex. Every member of the orchestra. Every member of the robotics team. Etc.

And once more, I'm reminded of why single sex schools can - paradoxically- be so good at avoiding gender stereotypes. In a single sex school, every member of the 'sixth form leadership team' (or whatever) is chosen for their ability not their sex. Every member of the orchestra. Every member of the robotics team. Etc.

@PatriarchyPersonified

My concern is that this new policy has resulted - for whatever reason - in a shift from boys and girls being assured of equal representation to a position where that is not assured.

It may well be that the boys were deemed more qualified (on what basis is speculative) or that girls did not stand for the senior positions - that's not clear.

Either way it doesn't strike me as progress.

This is a good indication of what we can expect from Labour's "all women shortlists" in the future.