Introduction to Gender and Sexuality in School and the Workplace

This chapter begins by illustrating the expansion of the work world to include women. Song of the Factory Girls demonstrate's one attempt to draw women into the workplace. But as the workforce expanded, it did not always do so fairly. Women workers were often paid less, and were less secure in their employment, than male counterparts. Women also suffered employment discrimination based on age and marital status.

The women's movement pushed for equal pay and employment opportunities. These guarantees are now federal law, if not necessarily a reality, in the United States. However, some claim that the working world is not accommodating enough of working parents, especially women. The expansion of the workplace also included sexuality issues. Since 1990, many businesses, universities, and government employers have amended their nondiscrimination policies to include sexual orientation.

The editors have expanded the definition of workplace to include the home, religious orders, and the military. In the home, more fathers are raising children in the full-time profession of stay-at-home dads. In religious orders, the Roman Catholic Church continues to debate the merit of celibacy for priests and the role of women in the church. This chapter highlights the ordination of Gene Robinson as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. While military service used to be exclusively reserved for men, there are expanding roles for women in the armed forces of many nations. The U.S. military continues to grapple with issue of openly gay servicemen and women, but many other nations have legalized gay members.

Schools also must cope with the impacts of gender and sexuality issues. Female students continue to push for equity in educational opportunities, and not without controversy. Several women challenged the admissions policies of traditionally male military academies to gain admissions. Their actions were both applauded and derided. Female students now receive equity in funding for sports teams, but the debate of whether boys or girls have more opportunities in the classroom has once again come to the forefront. Some public schools are even introducing single-sex classrooms to study the effects of gender segregation on academic achievement.

Since this chapter presents sources on gender and sexuality issues in schools, it also discusses those issues among students. Articles in this chapter highlight teen sexuality and sex education. One article discusses a controversial investigation of gender stereotypes and the quality of medical information contained in United States high school abstinence-only materials.