A Study on Chinese Teachers’ Experiences and Perceptions of Gender Roles and How it Affects Work, Family and Students

Sammanfattning: This research is a case study focusing on a group of Chinese teachers working in a senior high school in northern China. It seeks to explore their experiences and perceptions of gender roles, both in the workplace and at home. It aims to discover the impact of cultural values and beliefs on them as well as on their teaching practice, and to explore how they deal with the potential contradictions. There are three questions being addressed in this research: (1) In what way do male and female teachers experience and perceive gender (in)equality at the workplace? (2) In what way do male and female teachers experience and perceive gender (in)equality at home? (3) How do their experiences and perceptions of gender roles influence their teaching practice? The results show that both modernization and communism have positive influences on gender equality. However, tradition and stereotype impose men and women with specific roles and qualities. They influence participants’ domestic life to different extents: decision-making, housework division, attitudes toward marriage, premarital sex and gender preference of their children. Whether caring or paternalistic, parents play a very important role in the family. It also can be seen that women are trying to take an active role in household finance management. At the workplace, the ongoing work-family conflict and stereotype about gender roles hinder women’s career development. The participation and the percentage of female representation in management positions are rather low, even though they are encouraged to take an active role. When seeking employment, women face more frustration than men. In the classroom setting, gender difference can be seen when teachers give criticism and assign legwork. Students are expected to develop different qualities: male students with “male characteristics” and female students with “female characteristics”, as a result of social pressure.