The New York Times recently published an article detailing efforts to address gender inequity at Harvard Business School (HBS). The class of 2013 experienced a series of changes in administration, curriculum and pedagogical practices aimed at improving the performance of female students at HBS and challenging gender stereotypes within the business world. This feminist approach to business school is admirable, and elements can easily be reproduced in the high school classroom.
At HBS, and in many classrooms across the country, women perform well on tests but lag behind men in class participation. Because participation makes up a significant percentage of a student’s grade, lackluster contributions cause some women to fall behind.
One clear, direct intervention HBS instituted dealt specifically with lack of female participation in class—workshops on hand-raising for women. The workshop facilitator issued instructions: “Reach up assertively! No apologetic little half-waves!” This direct instruction, coupled with discussions on the effects of social expectations on career progress, markedly helped increase female participation at HBS.
When I made the transition from teaching seventh-graders to teaching high-school students, I immediately noticed the same disturbing trend regarding female class participation. During junior high discussions, equal numbers of male and female students raised their hands to be called on. The majority of all students, alight with enthusiasm to contribute, would stretch their hands high into the air. In contrast, in the first weeks of conducting class discussions with high-school freshmen, I noticed that far fewer girls participated—and they did so less vociferously. In my junior and senior English classes, female students rarely raised their hands or volunteered to speak in a whole-class discussion. When they did volunteer, they would timidly lift their hands about shoulder level; I couldn’t be sure if they were brushing off a speck of lint or attempting to offer an opinion. In Socratic seminars, I observed that girls were more likely to be interrupted, less likely to continue once interrupted and unlikely to break into a conversation themselves.
I tried multiple techniques to encourage equitable participation. I passed out three pennies to each student and required they “pay” to speak, encouraging them to consider the value of their comments and to contribute thoughtfully. Each class developed its own class discussion boundaries, which I strictly enforced when students interrupted. I used a “talking stick” so students could clearly indicate when they were finished with a thought or an idea. I developed a rubric that included points for students who recognized and called out silent or underrepresented students’ opinions.
These techniques had varying degrees of success in my classroom. As part of the career and college readiness initiative at my school this year, I will be conducting a workshop inspired by HBS—hand-raising assertiveness mini-lessons with my male and female students. Knowing what to say is a reflection of knowledge, but knowing how to say it in a way others will hear is a skill. I want my students to have the opportunity to practice this skill and think about why boys and girls might have developed different skills in this area. By naming and discussing these differences, my hope is to create a culture in my classroom where all students are aware of participation inequity and work to correct it.
Ricket is a high school English teacher in Ohio.
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