Gender and Realized Educational Expectations: The Roles of Social Origins and Significant Others

Gender gaps in educational expectations and postsecondary enrollment are well studied, but few scholars have investigated the extent to which students realize or fail to realize their expectations. Even fewer have examined how the likelihood of realizing one’s expectations may differ for men and women. Using 35 years of data, this study examines the role race, social class, and significant others’ influences have played in realizing educational expectations and how these relationships have differed for men and women. It also investigates how group gender differences in these characteristics have contributed to the gap between the proportion of men and proportion of women who have realized their educational expectations via college enrollment. Results show trends in realized expectations by gender over time. Group gender differences explain little of past gaps but returns on students’ characteristics differ by gender, which has been a key explanatory factor for differences between men and women in realizing their expectations. Implications of these findings relative to policy and program initiatives are discussed.     

Assessing a State-Mandated Institutional Accountability Program: The Perceptions of Selected Community College Leaders

ABSTRACT

In the spring of 2002 we conducted a structure-focused case study at 4 North Carolina community colleges to understand how selected senior campus leaders assessed a new legislatively-mandated institutional-accountability program. Using confidential interviews and document analysis we collected, analyzed, and interpreted data that revealed clear differences in how leaders regarded the accountability program. These distinct, campus-specific perspectives are characterized as “bureaucratic meddling,” “benign intrusion,” “an opportunity to demonstrate accountability,” and “the divided leaders.” Despite these distinct perspectives, however, we also found 2 overarching themes that illuminated common reactions to the accountability program. First, leaders at 3 of the 4 institutions reported that performance ratings under the accountability program were instrumental in prompting changes in instructional programs or staffing. Second, faculty leaders at 3 institutions exhibited an apathy or unawareness of state indicators, even though some state funding was linked to measures regarding student performance.     

Perceptions of Women and Men Leaders Following 360‐Degree Feedback Evaluations

In this study, researchers used a customized 360‐degree method to examine the frequency with which 1,546 men and 721 women leaders perceived themselves and were perceived by colleagues as using 10 relational and 10 task‐oriented leadership behaviors, as addressed in the Management‐Leadership Practices Inventory (MLPI). As hypothesized, men and women leaders, as well as their supervisors, employees, and peers, perceived women leaders to employ nine of the 10 relational leadership behaviors significantly more frequently than men leaders. Additionally, the employees' perceptions of their women leaders' use of task‐oriented behaviors were significantly higher when compared to similar assessments from the employees of men leaders. However, the leaders as well as their supervisors and peers perceived men and women leaders' use of task‐oriented behaviors as approximately equal. Broader implications of these findings are discussed.     

A gender comparison of contextualised study behaviour in higher education

The present study examines the manifestation of structural differences in the manner in which men and women students perceive and engage the content and context of learning. These differences are explored, and shown to be consistent, within a hierarchy of progressively more complex conceptual models of student learning. Conclusions are that structural gender variation differences emerge in terms of deep/strategic rather than surface, forms of learning behaviour: men students distinctively manifest and qualify deep/strategic learning behaviour in terms of operation and comprehension learning styles, while women students integrate these styles in a manifestation of style versatility that is clearly organised and not achievement motivated. An apparently separate female trait is distinguishable in terms of comprehension learning style and achievement motivation. It is argued that gender differences constitute a potentially important and neglected source of variation in student learning which, when detected in context, can and should be explicitly managed by academic practitioners.     

析性别语篇系统的差异——从跨性别交际失误谈起

男性和女性属于不同的语篇系统,因此,在跨性别交际中男女之间常出现交际失误。两性语篇的差异表现在交际风格、意义的解释框架等方面。明了这些差异及其原因有助于跨性别交际的顺利进行。     

Older Women and Lower Self-Rated Health

Several studies have found that older women report lower self-rated health than men. However, it is not clear why older women are more likely to report poor self-rated health than older men. Data for this study came from a national cross-sectional survey, Mental Health and Quality of Life of Older Malaysians (MHQoLOM). Included in the survey were 2980 respondents consisting of Malaysians aged 60 years and over, with both men (n = 1428) and women (n = 1552) represented. Results of t-tests showed older men expressed significantly higher levels of self-rated health and self-esteem than women (p < .01). Separate multivariate regression by gender revealed that age, life-threatening problems, and self-esteem were highly significant predictors of self-rated health among older men and women and explained 18.4% of variance in self-rated health for men and 18.2% for women. In the last step we examined the main effects of gender on self-rated health using General Linear Models (GLM) Univariate by adjusting for age, life-threatening problems, and self-esteem. Results showed an insignificant difference in self-rated health between older men and women (F _(1,2715) = 2.26, P = 0.13) only after adjusting for self-esteem. It can be concluded that self-esteem affects responses to self-rated health of older men and women.     

‘She's not good with crying’: the effect of gender expectations on graduate students' assessments of their principal investigators

This paper explores how gender influences the way that faculty members are held accountable to gendered societal expectations related to scientists, faculty members, and leaders. In particular, women faculty members in the sciences, particularly those who lead large research groups, may be at a triple disadvantage: they must act in ways that contradict ideals of femininity in these multiple aspects of their professional lives. The data for this inductive, largely exploratory analysis come from a mixed-methods qualitative study of five chemistry research groups at a research-intensive US university. I find that gendered expectations do impact the way that men and women faculty are evaluated by their students, particularly the way that women faculty are judged.     

Recruitment of men and women as academics by Australian universities

Entry of men and women to an academic career was studied through a survey of 230 men and women who in 1991 held a full-time appointment at lecturer level or above in Arts and Science disciplines in an Australian university. The women more often than the men had learned about the position they obtained from a source inside the department in which the job was being filled, had been encouraged by senior members of the department to apply, and had gained a position that was filled without advertisement. However, these differences arose because more of the women than the men had been a tutor in the department where they gained a lectureship. There were no differences in terms of how men and women had been recruited when allowance was made for this factor and whether a person had been residing within Australia immediately prior to appointment. The results are discussed with reference to why men have in the past and now do substantially outnumber women among academics in Australian universities. Although the survey suggests men and women who gained positions were recruited on similar bases, successful applicants need to be compared with unsuccessful applicants to obtain comprehensive understanding whether selection practices have disadvantaged women.The survey reported in this article was undertaken while Ray Over held an appointment as Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Education at Griffith University.     

College students' views of male and female college teachers: Part II—Evidence from students' evaluations of their classroom teachers

Although a majority of studies have found that male and female college teachers do not differ in the global ratings they receive from their students, when statistically significant differences are found, more of them favor women than men. Across studies, the average association between gender and overall evaluation, while favoring women (averager=+.02), is so small as to be insignificant in practical terms. Considering specific instructional dimensions of evaluations, female teachers receive very slightly higher ratings on their sensitivity to and concern with class level and progress than do men (averager=+.12). On other specific dimensions, men and women either do not differ or the differences are trivial in size (or, for two dimensions, while nontrivial, based on too few studies to be generalizable with any degree of certainty). Students tend to rate same-gendered teachers a little higher than opposite-gendered teachers. Although interaction effects on evaluations have also been found between gender of teacher and other factors (academic rank of the teacher, academic area, class level of the course, difficulty of the teacher or course, and the teacher's pedagogical orientation or personality characteristics), they are inconsistent across studies. Moreover, ratings of teachers are sometimes enhanced by gender-typical, and sometimes by gender-atypical, attributes, behaviors, and positions. The findings are discussed in terms of the expectations or demands of students and whether or not student ratings are biased by the gender of the teacher.     

Leadership characteristics and training needs of women and men in charge of Spanish universities

This article discusses the results obtained by two consecutive enquiries into the leadership styles and training needs of women and men leading higher education organisations. It compares the findings of the first stage of two studies, based on ad hoc questionnaires responded to by 136 women and 129 men. Results showed only subtle differences between the leadership styles deployed by the two groups. Both groups viewed organisations as social constructions; they preferred characteristics such as responsibility, ability to get on well with people, motivation capacity, communication and empathy, capacity to tackle difficult situations, and ethical issues. Consistent with this both groups identified similar training needs, which included the acquisition of abilities to deal with interpersonal conflicts and the construction of personal criteria to select the best strategy to face every situation. As no significant differences between male and female leaders were found, it is suggested that research into higher education organisations and their management training needs from a gender perspective should focus on the way both men and women managers tackle problems and situations.     

A Pragmatic Study of Gender Differences in Verbal Communication——A Case Study of Desperate Housewives

Male and Female languages refer to those which are usually used by men and women or those which characterize gender differences. Based on the theories of sociolinguistics and pragmatics, this thesis mainly provides a contrastive analysis of gender differences in conversation of Desperate Housewives from the perspectives of politeness principles. It aims at investigating how the pragmatic principles are violated or observed in the conversations of the characters in the series, finding out some to minimize the misunderstandings in inter-gender communication and achieve effective inter-gender communication.     

浅谈日语中的女性用语

日语中有男性用语和女性用语的区分,女性用语主要产生于平安时代,后受到女性文学的影响而逐渐得到发展。第二次世界大战后,由于日本男女的社会地位日趋平等,女性用语亦出现了衰退现象。但当前,男女语言的表达习惯仍有不小差别。女性用语在用词和语言表达形式上有别于男性用语和一般用语,其特点是含蓄、委婉、优雅。该文将对女性用语的历史变迁以及各方面的特征进行分析。     

What are the characteristics of nature preschools in Norway,and how do they organize their daily activities?

This study provides basic information about how Norwegian nature preschools differ from other Norwegian preschools and how they organize their daily activities. Fifty-six nature preschools and 52 other preschools were included in the study. A total of 106 headmasters and 98 pedagogical leaders filled out questionnaires about the characteristics of their preschool and the characteristics of their preschool’s outdoor activities. Two women and four men from nature preschools were interviewed about organizing a nature preschool. Most nature preschools are private and have less children and staff than other preschools. Nature preschools have more reference areas in nature and visit these areas more frequently than other preschools. Nature preschools spend a large amount of time in nature and have routines and rules that allow the children a significant amount of trust.     

THE NEED FOR “RULE” ETHICS AND THE PRACTICE OF VIRTUE

Studies on moral development done by some men, such as Kohlberg, have done a disservice to women. When considering the approaches to ethical decisions, such studies have not always considered the experience of women. There are differences between men and women re‐, garding their ideas of good and evil, sin, rights and relationships, and the establishment of priorities. These differences influence the route that men and women take to reach ethical decisions. Even if men and women reach the same conclusions, gender differences affect the approaches used to reach them. Nevertheless, both genders are capable of making sound moral decisions.     

高中生对语文教师的性别接受与期待

关于中学生对语教师性别接受和期待的研究不仅可以揭示中学生的性别认知状况，而且可在一定程度上反映语教师在教学风格和教学效果等方面的性别差异。依据自编调查问卷，对北京市三所学校的117名高一年级学生进行了调查。研究发现，中学生对女语教师的接受和喜爱程度高于对男教师；他们普遍认为女性更适合做语教师；但学生对不同性别语教师的期待没有明显差异；遇到过男语教师的同学对语教师的性别期待表现出比较大的灵活性。中学生认为男女语教师在教学优势和教学风格方面有显的差异。因此，就中学生对语教师的性别接受和性别期待的可能影响因素、男女教师在教学优势和教学风格方面的差异及其可能原因和后果等进行讨论是有意义的。     

Assessing the gender climate of an evangelical student subculture in the United States

This study explored the gendered experiences of students belonging to an evangelical Christian religious community on a university campus in the United States. As some religious traditions harbour distinctive views on gender differences and roles, the study focused on community characteristics that pertained to beliefs about gender and the behaviours that emanated from those beliefs. The findings revealed that the community was defined by masculine norms, the endorsement of essential gender differences and separate roles for men and women with respect to leadership, modesty and dating/marriage. Suggestions for improving the conditions for women in religious groups and the broader college campus are discussed.     

A Reanalysis of Engineering Majors’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs

This study examines differences in women??s engineering self-efficacy beliefs across grade levels in comparison to men??s engineering self-efficacy (ESE) beliefs across grade levels. Data for this study was collected from 746 (635 men, 111 women) engineering students enrolled in a large research extensive university. Four major conclusions resulted from this study. (1) No significant differences in overall mean engineering self-efficacy scores were found by gender. However, this study found differences between men??s and women??s mean coping self-efficacy (CSE) and engineering career outcome expectations (ECOE) subscale scores. Freshmen men had significantly higher ECOE compared to upperclassmen women. (2) Overall, fifthyear men had significantly lower mean ESE scores compared to all other groups. (3) When the fifth-year group was removed from the data set, all first-year students had significantly lower subscale scores compared to all other years. In addition, men in their first-year of engineering had significantly lower subscale scores compared to other groups of men. (4) No significant differences in overall ESE scores were found among first to fifth-year women. Also, no significant differences in self-efficacy subscale scores were found among first to fifth-year women.     

女性主义理论中的强奸问题——从《违背我们的意愿》中的女性主义展开

作为对女性人身权利最直观的犯罪行为之一,强奸受到了女性主义者最猛烈的抨击.布朗米勒的《违背我们的意愿》一书集中反映了"强奸是社会制度和文化准则构建的结果"的观点.但是,一直以来,将男女两性定格成为变革男权制社会而彼此"斗争"的群体的主张对最终消除强奸现象收效甚微.从人性出发,重新理解"平等"与"差异"的实质含义,有利于实现两性和谐发展,实现男女的真正平等.