If government is to national socialization as education is to individual socialization, then one only has to look at the message sent on the national level where gender bias is concerned and one can begin to glimpse the situation in education from K-12. Considering they represent basically half of the population, women occupy a relatively small percentage of the most powerful leadership positions in our government, in our school administration, and, typically, in our homes. Thus, it is no surprise that this bias is engendered in many educators, even if on the subconscious level. For all the remarkable progress women have made during this century where economic, political and social empowerment are concerned, we are a long way baby (as the women might say) from being where women and men are truly considered equals in American society. While there is ample opinion for and against the claim that gender bias experienced from K-12 greatly impacts the cultivation of intellectual development in girls as they grow into women, girls are treated differently, perceived differently and educated differently based on gender. The effects this has on their later development are far-reaching.
The lead initiative in addressing the gender-gap bias between boys and girls in K-12 has been adopted by the American Association of University Women (AAUW). The AAUW published two reports that have angered those who believe there is no gender-gap bias in education and has created alarm in those who believe it does. The first report was published in 1992 and was titled “How Schools Shortchange Girls.” The report was devastating in its conclusions that girls are treated much differently than boys in K-12, a fact which creates problems for their personal and educational development. The report “described the American classroom as a hellhole for girls. Females were allegedly invisible, ignored, silences, and broken by a loss of self-esteem…teache...