A review of gender roles and rules in Queensland Schools has highlighted shifting gender configurations and new questions of identity and equality in the education system.
Moreover, the emergence of gender-neutrality into the ‘national conversation’ raises the question of classifying ‘normal’ and ‘different’ and the inadequacy of classification systems in helping us identify and understand the world.
Gender-neutral schooling has made headlines across Australia in 2013, following one Queensland school’s decision to ban a nine year old ‘girl’ from the ‘girls’’ toilets, following her re-enrolment by her parents as a girl, after previously being enrolled as a boy.
“Jane”, now identified as Emma Hayes, was asked instead to use the ‘disabled’ toilets.
According to The Australian’s report on 17 September 2013, Emma’s story has prompted a new policy on gender for schools in Queensland, which is backed by the state’s education minister John-Paul Langbroek and is expected to be released in October.
“Boy-girl sporting teams, neutral uniforms and mixed toilets and change rooms will all be promoted under a plan to downplay gender in state schools,” the daily stated.
This story confirms the difficulty of labelling or classifying identities.
Initially, Emma Hayes was ‘othered’, because the school was not able to classify her according to two – the only two- gender categories.
In their discussions on culture, Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd (2007) discuss classification systems: categories and systems the human race uses in order to make sense of the world. These classification systems “emphasise differences and similarities”. (p. 13)
Masculine and feminine are the two binary classification systems of gender, which have existed since humans’ beginning of time, and as noted by Wadham et al, the genitalia of the genders has been symbolically interpreted as the basic fundamental difference between genders in Western cultural history.
“Possessing male genitalia has meant you should be ‘masculine’ not ‘feminine’” they write. (p. 15)
The news piece about Emma Hayes highlights the problems society faces when these classification systems are challenged.
Emma did not possess the appropriate genitalia to access the ‘girls’ toilets but she was no longer suitable for the ‘boys’ toilets either.
With schools one of the most influential institutions for shaping culture and our understanding of culture and identity, the Queensland state’s decision to essentially remove gender classifications poses significant consequences.
Certainly, it must be recognised that breaking down these gender categories is a positive step for students who feel that they don’t fit into the appropriate category – or any category at all. This is the view of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays spokesperson Shelley Argent, who told The Australian the changes would “save an awful lot of pain for youngsters and parents and make it easier for these children to fit into society.”
But it certainly raises some interesting questions for the future of education. For example, where do these gender-neutral students fit in when it comes to single-sex schools? Can transgender students attend either of these schools? Or do these schools have a future in a society where gender classification is being seriously challenged?
In any case, gender, or rather gender confusion or change, is a sensitive issue which must be approached with due consideration for students who don’t feel that current gender categories are appropriate for them.
In their journal article on childhood gender identity, Dragowski, Sharron-Del Rio and Sandigorski (2011) write that we must be both well-informed and thoughtful when making decisions about the lives of children who do not adhere to gender norms presently accepted by our society. (p. 365) They also raise the important point, that what is accepted by society is constantly evolving. Many gender roles of today would not have been accepted only a few decades ago. Perhaps - or rather, more than likely - our current gender categories could soon be considered backward.
References:
Chilcott, T. (2013) State School Review Makes Life Easier for Transgender Pupils, The Australian, retried 17 September 2013:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/state-school-review-makes-life-easier-for-transgender-pupils/story-e6frg6n6-1226720500439#sthash.uhjoaA10.dpuf
Wadham, B. Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and education. Sydney, Pearson Education
Dragowski, E., Sharron-Del Rio, M. & Sandigorski, A. (2011). Childhood Gender Identity ... Disorder? Developmental, Cultural, and Diagnostic Concerns, Journal of Counseling and Development, volume 89, Issue 3 p. 360-367
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