Back to the Basis

After six weeks of reviewing literature regarding gender gap in India and "looking for evidence" in the data, we decided that we were prepared to go to the "field" and determine whether our hypothesis about gender gaps were certain. In Rajasthan I understood certain aspects of the gender gap that the papers and data did not show me.

For the field work we prepared four instruments: a survey for students, parents and teachers and a guide for class observation. These instruments aimed to explore certain aspects that are usually considered plausible explanations for gender gap, such as the son's preference, parental education or teacher's perception. To apply these instruments, the six-member team was divided in three groups, each group had a native Hindi speaker. This post will describe my experience at the classroom and interviewing the teacher.

Ritambhara and I went to "Rajkiya Madhyamik Vidyalaya", a middle school in Ajmer. It was my first experience as an observer in a classroom, but the guide we had was very helpful. The objective of the classroom observation was to determine whether the teacher gave equal treatment to boys and girls during the class. The guide included questions such as: "Does the teacher seem to look or talk to both boys and girls when lecturing or explaining concepts?" or "Does the teacher use both female and male examples when explaining concepts?"

(Classroom observation: even though it was an English lesson, I had problems following all the session because the teacher spoke in Hindi most of the time.)

We observed an English lesson. In this class, the girls were seated at the left side of the class while the boy at the right side. One could tell that the teacher really put effort in enhancing the learning of both boys and girls. He had a routine: one question to the left side of the room, one question to the right side of the room. After the class, we interviewed him. We asked him to give us names of the best students and  leaders of the class, he considered both girls and boys in the list.

A very different experience from the other team: a teacher told them that "girls were dump" or that "it is bad  for girls to be outspoken when they grow". These quotes reflect that gender gap is a complex problem and its roots are in social norms and beliefs. A real challenge for policy makers; it's easy to solve problems such as lack of school infrastructure, you just allocate resources and build a school. But what do you do when people believe girls do not deserve the same opportunities as boys?