He, she, it: gender bias in teacher–student interaction at university

Abstract

Starting from an intercultural education framework, this paper examines whether students at two Zagreb universities perceive interactions with their teachers to be gender influenced. In the first part of the paper, we outline the context of the research and the two theoretical constructs which correspond to traditionally male and female teachers’ performances at university. In the second part of the paper, we present the results of the survey we conducted. The results show that the students recognized some aspects of gender bias in interaction with their teachers and that gendered cultures reflected in the dominantly female or male teachers’ performances were indeed present at the universities included in the survey.

Keywords:

• gender bias
• teacher–student interaction
• Zagreb University
• reproduction of traditional gender roles

Notes

1. Here, Equality means equality of rights and equality before the law, and consequently equal treatment of women and men. Equity presumes that that all human beings are free to develop their personal abilities and make choices without limitations set by the given gender roles; it also presumes that different behaviours, aspirations and needs of women and men are equally taken into account, valued and promoted. Equity is a key concept for resolving complex relations between power, domination and sub-ordination in social, political, cultural and economic contexts, as well as in personal lives, and for enabling the realization of women as full and free beings (Pojmovnik rodne terminologije 2007).