GENDER BIAS

WHEREAS, there is an increased awareness of the existence of gender bias in all levels of education; and

WHEREAS, this gender bias is most readily seen in teacher attitudes, instructional methods, and teaching materials; and

WHEREAS, the consequences of this gender bias are the distortion of women's contributions to society and the perpetuation of stereotypical views of the roles of women in the society; and

WHEREAS, there now exists a wealth of research about the contributions of women to society and of the importance of their roles in society that is not being used in the schools:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers use its good offices to eliminate gender bias at all educational levels in teaching methods, textbooks, and other teaching materials;

• to encourage the inclusion of appropriate materials on the contributions of women in qualifying examinations or other certification requirements for teachers;

• to encourage accrediting bodies to include demonstration of appropriate means of addressing gender bias among their criteria for accreditation;

• to alert teachers to the existence of both subtle and overt forms of gender bias and to help teachers combat this bias through workshops, training sessions, and other on-going forms of communication;

• and to urge teacher training institutions to integrate the results of recent scholarship about women and gender bias into their curricula, course content, and teaching methods.