Gender stereotyping in secondary schools and aftermath of the socialization: A case of Morogoro municipality

Society turns males and females into masculine and feminine beings through a process of socialization or gendering. The difference with which children are addressed, handled, treated and clothed and, through regulation, taught how they should behave to be part of the society they are born into. The study was conducted in Morogoro Municipal to assess the impact of socialization on gender stereotyping in secondary school education, Specifically it aimed at; examining the role of teachers in socializing secondary school students, determining the gender stereotypes resulted by the socialization process in secondary school education and examining the impact of socialization in academic arena of secondary schools. A total of 50 respondents were interviewed by the use of semi structured questionnaires, Focus Group Discussion and direct observations were employed to obtain the required information. Results reveal that, academically, socialization process increases gender equality, cooperation and participation, promotes effective learning and teaching and eventually raises students’ performance. Results further show that the more prominent gender stereotypes in secondary schools include “boys are intelligent”, “boys prefer studying science subjects”, “girls are capable in art subjects”, and “girls are inferior”. The study concludes that different social mechanisms teach children masculinity and femininity of personality and make them internalize behaviour, attitudes and roles. Education stakeholders are adviced to promote equal opportunity to girls and boys in order to reduce gender gap and remove bad attitudes against girls.