tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/women-education-9438/articlesWomen education – The Conversation2019-03-29T10:44:37Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1118112019-03-29T10:44:37Z2019-03-29T10:44:37ZJessie Simmons: How a schoolteacher became an unsung hero of the civil rights movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261721/original/file-20190301-110110-1gxxe8e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C11%2C410%2C386&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jessie Dean Gipson Simmons, shown top center about age 37, c. 1961
[Clockwise: daughter Angela, sons Obadiah Jerone, Jr. and Carl,
and husband Obadiah Jerone, Sr.; daughters Carolyn and Quendelyn are not pictured]</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simmons family archives</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Jessie Dean Gipson Simmons was full of optimism when she and her family moved from an apartment in a troubled area of Detroit to a new development in Inkster, Michigan in 1955.</p>
<p>With three children in tow, Jessie and her husband settled into a home on Colgate Street in a neighborhood known as “Brick City” – an idyllic enclave of single, working-class families with a shared community garden. </p>
<p>The plan was simple. Like many African Americans who left the South as part of the <a href="https://instintofemenino.org/book/454167311/download-the-promised-land-by-nicholas-lemann.pdf">Great Migration</a>, Jessie’s husband, Obadiah Sr., would find a stable factory job just outside of Detroit. Then Jessie would put to use the bachelor’s degree she had earned in upper elementary education from Grambling State University in the township of Taylor - just a few blocks from their new home.</p>
<p>But the plan went awry. Jessie first applied for a teaching position with the Taylor school district in April 1958, but was denied. The same thing happened in March 1959. And a third time in May 1959. The repeated denials may have set back Jessie’s plans, but they also set her up to fight an important battle for justice for black educators at a time when many were being pushed out of the teaching profession.</p>
<p>I interviewed Jessie’s family as part of my ongoing <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/S2051-231720170000006002">research</a> into the history of black women teachers from the Reconstruction Era to the 21st century.</p>
<h2>Fighting back</h2>
<p>The battle began when Jessie filed a grievance with the Michigan Fair Employment Practices Commission, or MFEPC, on Sept. 1, 1959. Jessie’s grievance detailed her conversation with the superintendent Orville Jones in March 1958, in which he told her “there would be vacancies in 1959.”</p>
<p>In August 1958, the Taylor Township Board of Education – the body overseeing the school district where Jessie wanted to teach – took up the matter of employing Negro teachers at a board meeting. The reason the item was placed on the agenda? The Superintendent at the time, Orville Jones, “felt that any handicap” – he deemed race as a handicap – “be pointed out to the board.” </p>
<p>The chair of the school board, Mr. Randall, stated applications were “considered in the order of the dates they were received.” Since the Taylor school board was now on record regarding its hiring practices for teachers, Jessie used that statement in her grievance. </p>
<p>Jessie’s decision to file a grievance would be a costly one for her family. The couple had planned on two steady incomes. In 1959, now a mother of five children, Jessie took a job as a waitress and a cook in a cafe to make ends meet. Her job drew scorn from family members in Louisiana who knew she was severely underemployed. And though her children didn’t know it at the time, Jessie and her husband “gave up meals so the children could eat,” according to Jessie’s oldest son, Obidiah Jr. </p>
<p>In 1960 the MFEPC held a public hearing for the grievance filed by Jessie and Mary Ruth Ross - a second black teacher who was also denied employment by the Taylor board of education. According to the Detroit Courier, Jessie and Mary “were passed over for employment in favor of white applicants who lacked degrees.” Records uncovered by the MFEPC found that 42 non-degreed teachers hired between 1957 through 1960 were all white and “had a maximum of 60 hours of college credits.” Jessie and Mary, on the other hand, were both degreed teachers with some credits toward a graduate degree. </p>
<h2>How the Brown decision hurt black teachers</h2>
<p>While the 1954 <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/history-of-education-quarterly/article/displacement-of-black-educators-postbrown-an-overview-and-analysis/39F33F06BE781D421943FBC057BA0499">Brown v. Board of Education decision</a> is often celebrated and considered a legal victory, many scholars believe it had a harmful effect on black teachers. In 1951, scholars writing in the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2966458?casa_token=hJWNsTvlBvcAAAAA:m9du8py5MgBpuKGHXkjVy4qANlHnyn3NuQNRyT50IFS1Vfc1PfilIsSiioJVodnYGcZ6rHjX6z6Hg9EcxJfCCJVnCr3yFDgC4NyfDwyFmhDgn2OpWZLtgw&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">Journal of Negro Education</a> rightly warned that Brown “might conceivably” impact “Negro teachers”. Nationwide, school district leaders pushed back against Brown in two ways.</p>
<p>First, school leaders slow-walked the implementation of Brown – for many school districts as late as the <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED293936">mid-1980s</a>. Second, black teachers across the country lost their once-secure teaching jobs by the tens of thousands after Brown when black schools closed and black children integrated into white schools. In the South, for example, the number of black teachers had soared to around 90,000 pre-Brown. But by 1965 nearly half had <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jah/article-abstract/91/1/43/798551?redirectedFrom=fulltext">lost their jobs</a>. A 1965 report from the National Education Association, a leading labor union for teachers, concluded school districts had “no place for Negroes” in the wake of Brown. School officials railed against Brown and refused to hire black teachers like Jessie, turning them into what sociologist Oliver Cox described as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C44&q=Cox%2C+Oliver+C.+%E2%80%9CNegro+Teachers%3A+Martyrs+to+Integration%3F%2C%E2%80%9D+The+Nation%2C+Vol.+176+%28April+25%2C+1953%29%3A+347%E2%80%93348.&btnG=">“martyrs to integration</a>.”</p>
<p>My own <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/S2051-231720170000006002">research</a> confirms that the forced exodus of black women from the teaching profession was ignited by Brown. Discrimination by school leaders fueled the demographic decline of black teachers and remains one of the leading factors for their <a href="https://graduate.lclark.edu/live/files/18709-twp-li-2515-minority-teacher-fact-or">under-representation in the profession today</a>. </p>
<h2>First ruling of its kind</h2>
<p>At the eight-day public hearing, Jones admitted that “the hiring of Negro teachers would be something new and different and something we had not done before.” He stated he felt that the Negro teachers were “not up to par.” The hearing eventually revealed that applications for “Negroes” were kept in distinct folders – separated from the submissions of the white applicants.</p>
<p>After more than a year, the MFEPC issued a ruling in Jessie’s case. The decision got a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=YK8DAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=En&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false">brief mention</a> from Jet Magazine on Dec. 1, 1960:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the first ruling of its kind, the MFEPC ordered the Taylor Township School Board to hire Mrs. Mary Ruth Ross and Mrs. Jessie Simmons, two Negro teachers, and pay them back wages for the school years of 1959-60 and 1960-61. FEPC Commissioner Allan A. Zaun said the teachers were refused employment on the basis of race.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The attorney for the Taylor board of education, Harry F. Vellmure, threatened to challenge the ruling in court - all the way “to the Supreme Court if necessary,” according to the Detroit Courier. The board stuck to its position that Jessie and Mary were given full and fair consideration for teaching jobs and simply lost out to better qualified teachers.</p>
<p>As a result of noncompliance with the MFEPC’s order, Carl Levin, future U.S. senator and general counsel for the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Taylor school district on Jessie’s and Mary’s behalf. Even though the matter did not reach higher courts, Vellmure filed several appeals that effectively slowed down the commission’s order for seven years.</p>
<p>As the lawsuit dragged on, Jessie became an elementary school teacher with the Sumpter School District in 1961. By 1965, she left Sumpter for the Romulus Community School District. According to Jessie’s children, they would continue in the Taylor school district and were known as the kids “whose mother filed the lawsuit against the school district.”</p>
<p>In 1967, after seven years of fighting the Taylor school district in local court, Jessie and Mary prevailed. They were awarded two years back pay and teaching positions. Saddled by hurt feelings after a long fight with the Taylor school district, Jessie declined the offer and continued teaching in Romulus. </p>
<p>The Simmons moved into a larger, newly constructed home on Lehigh Avenue. Jessie gave birth to her sixth child, Kimberly, one month before moving in. Although the new home was only two blocks south of their old home on Colgate Avenue, Jessie’s four surviving children recall that their lifestyle improved and their childhood was now defined by two eras: “before lawsuit life and after lawsuit life.” And by 1968, Jessie earned a master’s degree in education from Eastern Michigan University.</p>
<h2>Unsung civil rights hero</h2>
<p>At her retirement in 1986, Jessie’s former students recalled that she was an effective teacher of 30 years who was known as a disciplinarian with a profound sense of commitment to the children of Romulus.</p>
<p>Jessie’s story is a reminder that the civil rights movement did not push society to a better version of itself with a singular, vast wave toward freedom. Rather, it was fashioned by little ripples of courage with one person, one schoolteacher, at a time.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bjdtVDDUXvE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Loss of Black Women Teachers.</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111811/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valerie Hill-Jackson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When Jessie Simmons applied for a teaching job in 1958, her application went to a separate file for “Negro teachers” and got rejected. An education scholar recounts how Simmons fought back and won.Valerie Hill-Jackson, Clinical Professor of Educator Preparation and Director, Educator Preparation and School Partnerships, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/384482015-03-06T14:12:13Z2015-03-06T14:12:13ZGender gap shame leaves little to celebrate this International Women’s Day<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73971/original/image-20150305-3281-1lq5ncw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Seems a long way away, doesn't it?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/garryknight/9441179117/in/photolist-emDV9-a5yVrm-fohvCi-oaFXuS-8oxCsV-a5yTDf-2nEkS-r8DVx2-a8xtjw-ct4E7m-ct4BjA-ct4zKW-cWxDwE-4F9xWz-a9Bf4z-a9WP99-a9jZw1-abbquD-aaWn9Y-abarKk-abatca-a9JkqV-abeus1-abee6d-abbo5X-ab8xqV-abg42V-abbkQT-7FKdyC-aaU2SX-abbJHg-abiGvy-abfS9p-eSxy56-eSxy6g-eSxxYX-eSxERT-a9TZh9-abbA5e-a9E4yd-abaGZ4-abdQvS-pmDZ4-kitMt-pmDVS-abiT9o-abeqpm-abg5MB-abd95W-abbG7x">Garry Knight</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We’re celebrating International Women’s Day for the 107th time. It has a longer history than is often supposed and, as reflected in its still occasionally used Leninist title – International Working Women’s Day – a more socialist one.</p>
<p>There were exceptions, but the West as a whole didn’t really latch on until 1975, when March 8 was proclaimed the UN Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace. Since then, the UN has badged and orchestrated the commemoration, most notably with its 1995 <a href="http://www.unwomen.org/%7E/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/csw/pfa_e_final_web._pdf">Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action</a>. This set the agenda for realising women’s rights, and the theme of this year’s <a href="https://unwomen.org.au/campaigns/beijing-20-campaign">Beijing + 20</a> campaign.</p>
<p>The UK may have been among the later arrivals, but this year, of the 1,000+ events listed on the International Women’s Day website, it contributes virtually twice the number of any other country. These include awards ceremonies for women in business, exhibitions and talks, as well as a “Gathering of Goddesses, celebrating ourselves, all women and Mother Earth” at The Hurlers stone circles in Cornwall.</p>
<p>Sadly, one thing the goddesses won’t be celebrating is their country’s narrowing gender gap — because narrowing it isn’t. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2014/">World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index</a>, the UK’s gender gap hasn’t closed at all over the past decade in absolute terms. Judged alongside more than 140 other countries, the relative gap on the overall index has widened, as it has in all four of its sub-categories. For some of these sub-categories – most notably political empowerment – it has widened absolutely.</p>
<p>On each index, the highest possible score is 1 (equality) and the lowest is 0 (inequality). Expressed in percentages, the UK had closed 74% of a potential 100% gender gap by 2006 – placing it 9th in global rankings. That might seem respectable, but in 2014 it remained stuck at 74% and its ranking had dropped to 26th. The UK had failed to make any progress on closing the gender gap in nearly a decade.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73969/original/image-20150305-3295-1n0ehvg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73969/original/image-20150305-3295-1n0ehvg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73969/original/image-20150305-3295-1n0ehvg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73969/original/image-20150305-3295-1n0ehvg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73969/original/image-20150305-3295-1n0ehvg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73969/original/image-20150305-3295-1n0ehvg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73969/original/image-20150305-3295-1n0ehvg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73969/original/image-20150305-3295-1n0ehvg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Overall gender gap.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Game</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Countries that overtook the UK in the meantime included not just the US and France, but others from parts of the world one wouldn’t necessarily expect. Nicaragua had climbed to 6th, Rwanda to 7th and the Philippines to 9th. Latvia is in 15th place, Burundi 17th and Bulgaria 22nd.</p>
<h2>Damning detail</h2>
<p>The four sub-categories of the gender gap index paint a pretty sorry picture too. They measure economic participation and opportunity by labour-force participation rates, remuneration, and career advancement; health and survival by factors such as healthy life expectancy; educational access and attainment; and political empowerment by comparing ratios of men and women in political office.</p>
<p>The figures underpinning the economic participation sub-index show that the UK fails to rank even as high as 45th place on any measure. For estimated earned income, based on UN Development Programme methodology, the unclosed gender gap remains 38% – meaning women earn on average 38% less than men. </p>
<p>The findings on educational attainment are slightly less embarrassing. In fact, for enrolment in tertiary education, based this time on UNESCO statistics, there is a 36% female-to-male gap – more women than men – although this is somewhat counterbalanced by a more standard <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/gggr14/gggr_countryprofiles.pdf">6% male-to-female gap</a> for primary education enrolment. </p>
<p>UK rankings of 63rd for women MPs (148 of 650) and 75th for women ministers (30 of 121), seem, by international standards, lamentable. Other countries are closing their gender gaps, some completely – like Finland’s ministers and Rwanda’s MPs – while the UK’s, from a very much lower base, have actually widened.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73970/original/image-20150305-3289-12qck7y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73970/original/image-20150305-3289-12qck7y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73970/original/image-20150305-3289-12qck7y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73970/original/image-20150305-3289-12qck7y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73970/original/image-20150305-3289-12qck7y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73970/original/image-20150305-3289-12qck7y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73970/original/image-20150305-3289-12qck7y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73970/original/image-20150305-3289-12qck7y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Political empowerment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Game</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>About the best that can be said is that at least the bar for the next parliamentary hopefuls to try to jump is set pretty low.</p>
<p>So happy International Women’s Day. Women in the UK have hundreds of events to choose from to mark the occasion. What they don’t have is equality in the parameters that many feel matter most. Perhaps next year, we can look forward to some meaningful progress on this front.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38448/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Game does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Staggeringly slow progress keeps women out of power and out of the top jobs.Chris Game, Honorary Senior Lecturer, Institute of Local Government Studies, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/299212014-07-30T12:46:55Z2014-07-30T12:46:55ZAre women and men forever destined to think differently?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/55318/original/hshm2tnw-1406725036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C640%2C427&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why do you always forget to buy milk? </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sunfox</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/55310/original/9jq67vz7-1406719042.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/55310/original/9jq67vz7-1406719042.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55310/original/9jq67vz7-1406719042.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55310/original/9jq67vz7-1406719042.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55310/original/9jq67vz7-1406719042.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55310/original/9jq67vz7-1406719042.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55310/original/9jq67vz7-1406719042.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Who’s better at maths now?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/22326055@N06/14284075966/sizes/l">theirhistory</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The headlines</h2>
<p>The Australian: <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/male-and-female-brains-still-unequal-researchers-find/story-fnb64oi6-1227005426169?nk=b58817a9e2921378bdb1c6f98d3fb02c">Male and female brains still unequal</a></p>
<p>The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis: <a href="http://www.iiasa.ac.at/web/home/about/news/20140728-PNAS-gendercognition.html">Gender disparities in cognition will not diminish</a></p>
<p>The Economist: <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21609535">A variation in the cognitive abilities of the two sexes may be more about social development than gender stereotypes</a></p>
<h2>The story</h2>
<p>Everybody has an opinion on men, women and the difference (or not) between them. Now <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/07/24/1319538111">a new study</a> has used a massive and long-running European survey to investigate how differences in cognitive ability are changing. This is super smart, because it offers us an escape from arguing about whether men and women are different in how they think, allowing us some insight into how any such differences might develop. </p>
<h2>What they actually did</h2>
<p>Researchers led by Daniela Weber at Austria’s International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis analysed data collected as part of the European <a href="http://www.share-project.org/">Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement</a>. This includes data analysed in this study from approximately 31,000 adults, men and women all aged older than 50. As well as answering demographic questions, the survey participants took short quizzes which tested their memory, numeracy and verbal fluency (this last item involved a classic test which asks people to name as many animals as they could in 60 seconds). Alongside each test score, we have the year the participant was born in, as well as measures of gender equality and economic development for the country where they grew up.</p>
<h2>What they found</h2>
<p>The results show that as a country develops economically, the differences in cognitive ability between men and women change. But the pattern isn’t straightforward. Differences in verbal fluency disappear (so that an advantage on this test for men born in the 1920s over women is not found for those born in the 1950s). Differences in numeracy diminish (so the male advantage is less) and differences in memory actually increase (so that a female advantage is accentuated).</p>
<p>Further analysis looked at the how these differences in cognitive performance related to the amount of education men and women got. In all regions women tended to have fewer years of education, on average, then men. But, importantly, the size of this difference varied. This allowed the researchers to gauge how differences in education affected cognitive performance. </p>
<p>For all three abilities tested, there was a relationship between the size of the differences in the amount of education and the size of the difference in cognitive performance: fewer years of education for women was associated with worse scores for women, as you’d expect.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/55311/original/d3wgbmwg-1406719350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/55311/original/d3wgbmwg-1406719350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55311/original/d3wgbmwg-1406719350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55311/original/d3wgbmwg-1406719350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55311/original/d3wgbmwg-1406719350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55311/original/d3wgbmwg-1406719350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55311/original/d3wgbmwg-1406719350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Why do you always forget to buy milk?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sunfox/5085450754/sizes/l">Sunfox</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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<p>What varied for the three abilities was in the researchers’ predictions for the situation where men and women spent an equal amount of time in education: for memory this scenario was associated with a distinct female advantage, for numeracy a male advantage and for verbal fluency, there was no difference. </p>
<h2>What this means</h2>
<p>The thing that dogs studies on gender differences in cognition is the question of why these differences exist. People have such strong expectations, that they often leap to the assumption that any observed difference must reflect something fundamental about men vs women. Here, consider the example of the Australian newspaper which <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/male-and-female-brains-still-unequal-researchers-find/story-fnb64oi6-1227005426169?nk=b58817a9e2921378bdb1c6f98d3fb02c">headlined their take on this story</a> as telling us something about “male and female brains”, the implication being that the unequalness was a fundamental, biological, difference. In fact, research often shows that gender differences in cognitive performance are small, and even then we don’t know why these differences exist.</p>
<p>The great thing about this study is that by looking at how gender differences evolve over time it promises insight into what drives those difference in the first place. The fact that the female memory advantage increases as women are allowed more access to education is, on the face of it, suggestive evidence that at least one cognitive difference between men and women may be unleashed by more equal societies, rather than removed by them.</p>
<h2>Tom’s take</h2>
<p>The most important thing to take from this research is – as the authors report – increasing gender equality disproportionately benefits women. This is because – no surprise! – gender inequality disproportionately disadvantages women. Even in the area of cognitive performance, this historical denial of opportunities, health and education to women means, at a population level, they have more potential to increase their scores on these tests.</p>
<p>Along with other research on things like IQ, this study found systemmatic improvements in cognitive performance across time for both men and women – as everyone’s opportunities and health increases, so does their cognitive function. </p>
<p>But the provocative suggestion of this study is that as societies develop we won’t necessarily see all gender differences go away. Some cognitive differences may actually increase when women are at less of a disadvantage. </p>
<p>You don’t leap to conclusions based on one study, but this is a neat contribution. One caveat is that even though indices such as “years in education” show diminished gender inequality in Europe, you’d be a fool to think that societies which educated men and women for an equal number of years treated them both equally and put equal expectations on them. </p>
<p>Even if you thought this was true for 2014, you wouldn’t think this was true for European societies of the 1950s (when the youngest of these study participants were growing up). There could be very strong societal influences on cognitive ability – such as expecting women to be good with words and bad with numbers – that simply aren’t captured by the data analysed here.</p>
<p>Personally, I find it interesting to observe how keen people are to seize on such evidence that “essential” gender differences definitely do exist (despite the known confounds of living in a sexist society). My preferred strategy would be to hold judgement and focus on remaking the definitely sexist society. For certain, we’ll only get the truth when we have an account of how cognitive abilities develop within both biological and social contexts. Studies like this point the way, and suggest that whatever the truth is, it should have some surprises for everyone.</p>
<h2>Read more</h2>
<p>The original research: <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/07/24/1319538111">The changing face of cognitive gender differences in Europe</a></p>
<p>My previous column on gender differences: <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-men-better-wired-to-read-maps-or-is-it-a-tired-clich-21096">Are men better wired to read maps or is it a tired cliché?</a></p>
<p>Cordelia Fine’s book, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/sep/10/gender-gap-myth-cordelia-fine">Delusions of gender: how our minds, society, and neuro-sexism create difference</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29921/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The headlines The Australian: Male and female brains still unequal The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis: Gender disparities in cognition will not diminish The Economist: A variation…Tom Stafford, Lecturer in Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/244532014-03-18T06:05:50Z2014-03-18T06:05:50ZThe peace dividend of educating women in the Middle East<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44128/original/k6f9f5fn-1395091483.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Girl up front for a better chance at peace.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Schoolgirls_in_Bamozai.JPG">Capt. John Severns, U.S. Air Force</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Lasting peace in the Middle East depends on empowering young women through education. By oppressing our young people and women, we don’t have a new generation that is full of ideas and full of change. </p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/%7E/media/research/files/interactives/2014/arab%20world%20learning%20barometer/arabworld_learningbarometer_en">a recent report</a> by the Brookings Institute’s Center for Universal Education, there are now 3.1m fewer children out of school in the Arab region than there were in 2002, but 8.5 million children still remain excluded. Many are poor girls living in areas of conflict and rural areas. </p>
<p>The report also says there is a mixed or “boomerang” dynamic for girls in the Middle East. Although girls are less likely to start school than boys, when they get there, they are more likely to make the transition from primary to secondary education – 97% make the transition compared to 91% of boys. They also tend to outperform boys in terms of learning.</p>
<p>But there is an urgent need to resume the disturbed balance in the relationship between men and women in the Middle East. At the moment, the future remains largely shaped by men. We need to see more women at the negotiation table, involved in politics and civil society. In Egypt and Syria, few women are talking. If women were a more vocal part of Syrian civil society, I’m sure the country would find another alternative than violence. </p>
<p>There are some very influential women leaders already in the Middle East. In the Palestinian authority, Dr Hanan Ashrawi served as the official spokesperson for the Palestinian delegation in the Middle East peace process, and is now a member of the executive of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. In February, <a href="http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2014/02/23/Hanan-Ashrawi-calls-for-end-of-honor-killings-in-Mideast/UPI-65581393168465/">she called for an law banning honour killings</a> in the Middle East. But instead of having one Hanan, we need thousands. </p>
<p>Politics, culture, and men’s power over girls and women in many developing countries are the major factors holding back women’s education. To effect change we must develop tools to support women’s educational aspirations. Education systems must also combat the influence of messages received through parents, peers, media and society in general. </p>
<p>A friend of mine’s daughter is currently studying business at the American University at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. I asked my friend, will she then continue on to do a masters? “No”, her mother said. “I want her to marry.” My friend has a PhD; but her priority for her daughter is stability as a housewife, not a career as a business woman. Priorities in Arab countries still remain stiffly focused around marriage, reproduction and building a family.</p>
<p>It’s time to fix the imbalance. Social injustice through denying girls and women the right opportunities and education adversely affects the status, relationship, stability, and health of individuals and communities. </p>
<p>We need to build education systems that help women and children to develop the skills and competencies to be active members in the community.</p>
<p>We need to work together to prevent wars and conflict in their infancy. Peace is the ultimate prize and women’s education is the key to make this happen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24453/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Izzeldin Abuelaish is the President and founder of Daughters for Life, a foundation for education of girls and women for the Middle East. </span></em></p>Lasting peace in the Middle East depends on empowering young women through education. By oppressing our young people and women, we don’t have a new generation that is full of ideas and full of change…Izzeldin Abuelaish, Associate Professor of Global Health , University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.