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Girls’ education in Hong Kong: Incidental gains and postponed inequality香港女童教育 : 偶然的平等与延迟的不公

Grace Mak 麦肖玲The HK Institute of Education

香港教育学院

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Two objectives of the paper

A critical review of girls’ participation in education in the last 20 years: Progress in what areas? Why? Remaining gaps?

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Research on the subject

Mainly in status attainment perspective. Measuring the gap. More on what than why.

A deficit perspective Outcome, not process Unproblematic Ignores multiplicity and contradictory values

different people attach to achievements.

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Research gaps

Why – the complex dynamics between structural factors, e.g., policy and social trends, and girls’ response to it

Two dimensions of the problem – Girls’ subjectivities: gendered identity formation

& its interaction with public discourse on gender relations and edu provision

Epistemology – gendering in school knowledge & assessment

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Arguments

Partial gains in education: titular policy of universal basic education Decline in fertility and raised value of daug

hters Incidental outcome of uncoordinated policy a

nd demographics, rather than an ideology of gender equity

Inequality perpetuates in spheres where male interests continue to be safeguarded: the family, economy, and politics

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Arguments

Discourse on gender difference: Need to clarify the assumptions behin

d relationship between gender & knowledge/assessment

contention between natural and social factors as valid explanation for gender difference in education.

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Current situation

Girls’ enrollment rates higher than boys’ since 1991 (3-18 age groups) and since 2001 (19-24 age group).

Girls generally “outperform” boys Gender divide in subjects -- remained but nar

rowed. Increase in women’s participation in higher e

ducation, but mostly in sub-degree programmes

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Women as a % of students enrolled in UGC-funded programmes by level of study, in % of headcount(Source: UGC)

Level 1997/98 2000/01 2003/04

Sub-degree 64 67 66

Undergrad 50 53 54

Taught postgrad

38 47 51

Research postgrad

30 38 43

Total 51 55 55

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Persons aged 25 and below who were studying outside Hong Kong by place of study and sex, 2002

Place of study Male (%) Female (%) Total (No.)

Canada 63 37 19,600

Australia 42 58 16,400

U.K. 55 45 16,100

U.S.A. 51 49 13,200

Chinese Mainland

73 27 3,000

Other places 60 40 5,800

Total 55 45 74,100

Source: Census and Statistics Department (2005), Survey on "Hong Kong students studying outside Hong Kong" in 2002.

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Questions

What is being compared? Is numerical gender parity or a deeper sense of fairness the ultimate objective of intellectual inquiry into the question?

Are the increases in education misleading in our assessment of gender equality?

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Academic Performance

Macall et al.: higher rates of boys than girls in underachievement esp in P5 and P6

EOC: 1993-1998 P6 girls consistently outperformed boys

Wong et al.: 1997 HKCEE girls outperform boys in all areas of school curriculum

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Academic Performance

HKCEE results in recent years: Girls generally do better than boys Except in languages, Grade A-C boys and girls, close Gender divide in non-language subjects: blurring

HKALE: Gender divide in lang, math and sci – intensifies; blurs in

other subjects

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Shifting pattern of gender difference in new edu context

What is the nature of the change? School organization Knowledge organization --Gender matching of knowledge;

what favors who

But: changing performance in math & science

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Shifting pattern of gender difference in new edu context

How students perform in a subject – TIMSS vs PISA findings on science

Gender difference in aptitude and the assumption behind

Girls’ positive response – natural or socially oriented? If latter, is it sustainable? A shifting vs constant phe

nomenon?

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Limitation of education as a change agent

Change in degree Little fundamental change in gender inequalit

y in the family, economy, and politics

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Econ economic outcome of girls’ educationSource: Census & Statistics Dept.

Ed attainment 1991 1996 2001

No sch/kg 0.686 0.675 0.575

Primary 0.640 0.686 0.579

Lower sec 0.682 0.711 0.650

Upper sec 0.833 0.850 0.833

Matric’tion 0.750 0.800 0.607

T non-dg 0.789 0.781 0.765

T degree 0.607 0.666 0.686

Total 0.708 0.800 0.742

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Contradiction between

Phenomena & Explanation of phenomena

(facts) (perceptions, values…)

Educators’ consciousness lags behind social phenomena; gender as a non-issue.

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Current state of women

Womanhood as personhoodeducation

economy

family

politics

new forms of inequality

Perspectives on gender roles

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Agendas for Future Research: Subjectivities

Essentialist stance (a collective voice of women) vs. Post-modern stance (diversity and multitude of voices)

Inter-gender difference vs intra-gender difference (Individuals as autonomous beings)

Differential response to education construction of gender as a complex social category shaped by interaction of gender, class, ethnicity and other factors.

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Agendas for Future Research: Subjectivities

e.g., underachieving girls as a research category

e.g., “underachieving” women Underachievement by choice or by elimination? Values & re-defining “status” and “achievement” Liberation or limitation?

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Epistemology Shifting relationship of gender and knowledg

e Natural vs social explanations