Do teens hold sexist beliefs? An assessment of secondary education students’ attitudes towards equality and gender roles

Abstract

The past few decades have seen a considerable improvement of topics related to gender equality and social views on gender roles, which have been reflected, among other things, in an increase of women choosing STEM-related careers, fields which are generally male-dominated. However, there still exists a notable gap in STEM education participation according to gender. This quantitative research work aims to know the attitudes towards gender equality and coeducation shown by Compulsory Secondary Education students (grades 7 to 10). The sample was composed by 335 students aged 12-16 from three different secondary education schools located in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León. In order to gather data on student attitudes towards gender, we applied an anonymous questionnaire using a valid and reliable instrument. The descriptive and inferential analysis results show relatively low levels of sexist attitudes among the students participating in the study, although some differences can be found according to the gender of the respondent. Generally, women hold attitudes that are more positive towards gender equality than those held by men. The discussion and conclusions address the need to continue this research line on factors related to gender issues, as well as to implement interventions based on the principles of coeducation, so that our education system, and thus our society, come closer to a real gender equality, thus improving the chances of women to undertake all kinds of studies and jobs.