Read below the paradoxes (contrary opinions) about men and women.
Man doesn't cry. Woman is feeling. Man produces and has. Women are unproductive and receive. Man is free. Woman is dependent. Man is provider. Woman is provided. Man is brain, reason. The woman is heart, emotion. Man is genius. Woman is an angel. Man is glory. Woman is virtue. Man is strength. Woman is tear. Man is a hero. A woman is a martyr. Man is noble. Woman is sublime. Man corrects. Woman perfect. Man thinks. Woman dreams. Man is ocean. Woman is lake. Man is an eagle and flies. Woman is a nightingale and sings. Man dominates space. Woman conquers the soul. Man has a conscience. Women have hope.
You will surely notice that the poem “The man and the woman”, by Vitor Hugo, is almost all there, added by some other parallel. Realize that everything that is associated with masculinity there expresses power, knowledge and strength. And that everything that concerns women is characterized by impotence, submission and inferiority. Apparently, sexist contrasts along these lines equate men and women, but, viewed critically, they perpetrate the disrespect for differences, nail inequality between the sexes and imprint injustice in the relationships between men and women.
Discrepancies in ideas; injustices in real life. Society creates, legitimizes and maintains gender-identified social roles and wears them like strait-jackets for children from an early age. Children are not welcomed for who they are, but for what adult society wants them to be. Hence the sexist learning, from an early age. Boy walks with his father, plays with the teacher and joins groups of boys. A girl lives with her mother, plays with the teacher and lives with girls. Boy is a conqueror. Girl is crybaby. Boy picks up weight. Girl washes dish. Boy has cart. Girl wins doll. Boots are for boys. Girl wears sandals. Earring and long hair are for her. They wear short hair and use guns to play with. There it is: we reach the root of violence, man's monopoly, which victimizes both.
At school, the sexist worldview is materialized in the girls' queue, in the rooms or desks reserved for them, and in the lists of calls not prepared in alphabetical order; in sexist teaching materials and in the posture of education professionals who are an example of sexual division between people, the prejudices related to them, which are even socially encouraged. And the boy, who heard from his mother the phrase that says that a man does not cry, is strong, and the girl, who heard from her parents the idea that a girl is modest and must be sensitive, they experience the prolongation in school spaces of the learning that the world is male-centric, and, by extension, white and owner. Basically, all these paradoxes, led by the sexist bias, show that, from an economic, political and cultural point of view, society is doing very well. compartmentalized, with a brick mold for each human person, a natural candidate to be another pacified brick in the walls and walls consecrated by the great social body.
A non-sexist education proposes to go against all of this. It aims, among other things, to leave the theoretical field and descend into daily practice, undertaking actions that strive for concrete equality between the sexes. It is guided by the provisions of Resolution 34/180 of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN), of December 18, 1979, which advocates equality between men and women and in favor of “the same conditions of professional guidance, access to studies and obtaining diplomas in educational establishments of all categories, both in rural and in urban ones”, he states that “this equality should be ensured in pre-school, general, technical and professional education, as well as in any other form of training. professional"; advocates “access to the same programmes, the same exams, teaching staff with the same qualifications, facilities and school material of the same quality” for everyone; proposes the “elimination of any stereotyped conception of male and female roles at all levels and in all forms of education by encouraging education and to other types of education that contribute to achieving this goal, and in particular through the revision of textbooks and school programs and the adaptation of methods. pedagogical”; says that the provision of “the same opportunities with regard to the granting of scholarships and other grants for studies” is correct, in addition to ensuring that it is It is fair to guarantee “the same opportunities for access to supplementary education programmes, including adult literacy and literacy programmes. functional literacy, with a view mainly to reducing, as soon as possible, any gap in knowledge that exists between men and women. women."
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If non-sexist education programs are implemented according to these guidelines, we will already be doing a lot so that the differences between men and women do not turn into inequalities and injustices. We will also be fighting domestic violence, by women against men and men against women; we will be preventing social violence, from everyone against everyone, because man will learn to develop more sensitive ways of seeing the world and women will empower more active ways of insert into life. They will educate themselves to be companions, not potential and real enemies in their everyday lives.
It is in this direction that psychologist Malvina Muszkat points: “We want women to become stronger, to get out of the position of victimization. And that men express their frailties. In general, men don't talk about their feelings. Many consider this speech as a sign of lack of masculinity. We work with men, encouraging them to reflect on their weaknesses and impulses.”
The hope is that if we get to that point, men and women will see how important it is to fight the costs of masculinity brought about by the male monopoly of strength, power and reason, while the woman can realize the damages arising from the acceptance of a femininity backed by inferiority, victimization and dependency. However, this will not happen overnight. The fight against sexist paradoxes is arduous and requires daily and continued dedication. It is for this reason that non-sexist education programs have to be designed and carried out, as they are potentially trainers of all of us towards concrete equality among human beings, which can bring us more quality of life, more happiness and Realization.
Per Wilson Correia
Master in Education
Columnist Brazil School
education - Brazil School