25/02/2011 President
Strasbourg, 25.02.2011 – Some teachers are reinforcing gender stereotypes in their pupils by failing to give boys and girls access to the full range of learning experiences they are entitled to, PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu told a seminar in New York today.
Giving the keynote speech at a conference being held by the Council of Europe and Turkey’s Permanent Representation to the UN on the theme Combating Gender Stereotypes in Education, the President said: “Boys and girls are different. But this does not mean that they should not have the same opportunities to develop their full potential.”
“Representations of femininity and masculinity, as well as models for assigning the social roles which shape our societies, start in the classroom,” he said.
Citing comprehensive research from Sweden, the President pointed out that teachers tended to present boys and girls with different experiences and examples through school curricula, which led to them developing different expactations about their future roles.
Mr Cavusoglu listed a series of measures the Assembly has proposed to help schools implement the principle of gender equality.
Full speech