------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tue, 13 Jun 1995 09:55:06 +1000
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: gender survey (long) (fwd)
Hello, This questionnaire has been posted to mailing-lists concerned with
women, gender, feminism, education or a combination of these topics.
Sorry for any multiple posts. If you do not wish to take part,
please delete this message. If you know of anyone who would be interested
in taking part, please circulate this message. For those taking part,
thankyou in advance.
Because of the nature of e-mail, responses are not anonymous. They are,
however, confidential. If you feel uneasy about responding via email,
feel free to use the conventional post. My postal address is attached.
The questionnaire is designed so that you can use the 'forward' or the
'reply' command of your mailer to allow you to fill in your responses and
send them back to me. Please do not return it to the list where you found
it. If you have any trouble with the process or your particular mailer wont
allow you to enter text into a forwarded message, please contact me. My
email address is <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. Please use "survey" in the
subject line.
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The questionnaire is in three parts. The first part asks for some
biographical information. Please enter your answers directly after each
question. Where categories are offered, please indicate by inserting an
asterisk (*) after the appropriate response.
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*Part I*
What is your sex? F:__ M:__
What is your age? Age:__
Where did you find this survey?__
What is your nationality?__
With what language are you most comfortable?__
What is the highest level of education that you have completed?__
What is your occupation - a. student (please specify level)
- b. educator (please specify level)
- c. other (please specify)
What was your favourite subject at secondary school?__
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Part two contains 35 multiple-choice items. It will take you about 20
minutes to complete.
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*Part II*
For each statement, indicate with an asterisk (*) whether you STRONGLY
AGREE, AGREE, are UNDECIDED, DISAGREE OR STRONGLY DISAGREE. When
appropriate, please explain your response after the respective item.
For example:
I like ice-cream.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree *
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
Except for strawberry
____________________________________
Questions start here.
1. Some jobs are unsuitable for women.
a. Strongly Agree (which ones?)
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
2. Women have become over-sensitive to so-called sexual harassment
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
3. Nowadays women are no more nurturing than men
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
4. Women often have to work harder than men to do well in maths, science
and technology subjects.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
5. The break-down of the traditional nuclear family has led to problems in
society.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
6. Unemployment problems are largely due to the increased entry of women
into the workforce.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
7. Biological differences between men and women should not interfere with
their career opportunities.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
8. The authoritative roles in religion are more suitably filled by men.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
9. The same treatment for both women and men is sometimes going to be
discriminatory.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
10. Women's contribution to society needs to be recognised.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
11. Feminism has gone too far, to the detriment of society.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
12. Sexist advertising reinforces prejudices against women.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
13. A woman is less complete without a male partner.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
14. Women are naturally maternal.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
15. Institutionalised harassment underlies the work culture of many
traditionally male-dominated occupations.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
16. Facilities such as childcare support and flexible working hours
should be available so women are not disadvantaged in the workplace.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
17. Qualities that are traditionally associated with females, such as
co-operation and nurturing, should be encouraged in males as well.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
18. Encouraging women to stay at home to reproduce and raise children
serves the purposes of those in power in patriarchal societies.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
19. The participation of women in areas traditionally dominated by men is
no longer a satisfactory goal for feminists.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
20. Women are socialised in ways that make them dependent on men.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
21. Women now have more than adequate opportunities for career success.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
22. Girls need to be encouraged to be more confident and more competitive
so they can better participate in traditionally male work environments.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
23. Qualities traditionally associated with women have been undervalued
in the workplace.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
24. Feminism is necessarily an attack on masculinity.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
25. Under the guise of other functions, dominant institutions, such as
mainstream religions, education systems and mass media, perpetuate gender
imbalances.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
26. Some issues are only of importance to women and should not be the
subject of general public debate.
a. Strongly Agree (which ones?)
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
27. The use of sexist language perpetuates the marginalisation of women.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
28. Girls are better suited to studying languages and the humanities than
mathematics and the natural sciences.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
29. The behaviour of boys needs to change before girls can have a fair go
in the classroom.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
30. Throughout Western history, the concerns of men have been promoted as
the norm.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
31. A focus on the participation and performance of girls at high school
has led to the neglect of boys.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
32. Traditionally male-dominated areas will be enriched as women move
into them.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
33. The power of men in patriarchal societies is based on the silencing
and control of women.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
34. The position of women in society will not improve until dominant
attitudes change.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
35. Women are certainly logical enough to do well in mathematics.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly Disagree
If you have any other comments about particular items, please comment
here:__
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Part three of the survey asks you to answer a number of open-ended
questions about the three newspaper articles that appear below. Please
type your answers after each question. Feel free to answer to any length.
These articles have been used with permission from the copyright owners.
A reproduction (including printing out from this message), without
permission from the owners, for purposes other than to complete the survey
could arguably constitute a copyright infringement.
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*Part III: Newspaper Articles*
"Study finds campus equality" from _The Age_ Saturday 25 March 1995, page
three, by Joanne Painter, education reporter, Melbourne.
Twenty-five years after the start of the sexual revolution, women have
finally won equality on university campuses, a Monash University study
has claimed.
A report by the Centre for Population and Urban Research found that in
1994, nearly 55 per cent of Australian students starting undergraduate
university study were women - the highest level ever.
Female undergraduate students generally outperformed and outnumbered
men in most areas of study and across social classes and locations.
The study, which disputes the notion that women are disadvantaged
in higher education, found female students had more success than men in
getting places at Australia's most prestigious universities.
The University of Sydney had the highest percentage of female
students starting study last year (58.6 per cent), while the University
of Melbourne and Monash University were among the highest with 54.8 per
cent and 53.9 per cent. Swinburne University of Technology - which has a
high proportion of engineering and science-related courses - was one of
only five Australian institutions where men outnumbered women in 1994
undergraduate commencements.
The report concluded: "Given the recent record of female achievement,
there is no longer any reason for women to be considered as a
disadvantaged group as regards access to higher education.
"... on the basis of recent higher-education achievement, it is
men who could be regarded as being members of a disadvantaged group."
But the co-convenor of the Women's Economic Think Tank, Ms Eva
Cox, said the study ignored organisational culture and attitudes.
"If education on its own were such an important indicator of future
success, (women) should be running the country by now," she said.
One of the authors, Dr Bob Birrell said the study, in the March issue
of _People_and_Place_, showed that since 1984, women had consolidated their
gains on university campuses. He said women's success at university had
profound implications for society.
"The pattern is pointing in the direction of even greater female
participation in tertiary education... Men will have to get used to a
situation where women are in the powerful positions."
The study found that, although women students continued to
predominate in the fields of health (77 per cent) and education (73 per
cent), they were gaining ground in science (41 per cent) and law (48 per
cent).
Women remained under-represented in engineering, architecture and
economics courses, where they accounted for 14 per cent of 1994
commencing students respectively.
However, the study cautioned that "there may still be grounds for
concern about equal opportunity for women in the professions ... but they
lie in the areas of pay, promotion and accommodation of women's
child-bearing responsibilities..."
---
1. What do you consider to be the most important point made in this article?
2. Do you agree that "there is no longer any reason for women to be
considered as a disadvantaged group as regards access to higher education"?
3. Feel free to make any other comments here.
______________________________
"Father's Day is with us again" by A. Barron, _The Herald Sun_ Monday
3rd September 1994, page 20, Letters to the Editor, Melbourne.
Father's Day is with us again. However, fathers have little to celebrate.
Short of total annihilation, there can be no more fundamental change in
society than the one taking place to men today.
Unemployment for men is at a high due to affirmative action/equal
opportunity policies. Male suicide rates are up. Crime, juvenile
delinquency and tension between the sexes have increased dramatically in
the past two decades.
Marriage and birth rates are declining while divorce rates are
increasing.
All these significant social changes are perceived as separate
problems or as no problem at all. Rather these things are seen as the
"price society has to pay" to equalise the roles of men and women.
This drive is not only against the design of nature, but, according to
Professor Daniel Amneus, the reason Western society is declining. The
male role as breadwinner and leader of his family has been seriously
undermined.
Instead of a balance of power and sharing of responsibilities
between men and women in marriage, society appears to accept the view
that women should have a dual role - that of breadwinner and nurturer.
This means men effectively have no clearly defined role in modern
egalitarian society.
In the brave new world of so called "sexual equality", men have
become superfluous to women, society and, worse still, to their own families.
Unless the drive to equalise the roles of the sexes is stopped,
family life will continue to decline. Only a wholesale return to
traditional roles will save and preserve the family unit in this country.
---
1. What do you consider to be the most important point made in this
article?
2. Do you agree with the sentiment of this article? Why or why not?
3. Feel free to make other comments here.
_________________________________
"Female numbers increase" from _The Australian_ Monday 3rd September
1994, p20, Melbourne.
Although a growing number of women are studying engineering, a
University of Sydney survey has found they are more likely to choose
chemical engineering or civil engineering rather than other engineering
streams.
The University's faculty of engineering runs several programs to
attract women to engineering studies.
In 1990, when the Federal Government called for enrolments of
women in engineering to rise from a national average of 7 per cent to 15
per cent by 1995, the University of Sydney had already surpassed that
level three years previously.
While every engineering department has seen rising numbers of
female students, the increase is most marked in the Department of
Chemical Engineering, which now has as many female students enrolled in
its four-year Bachelor of Engineering program as it has had in the past
40 years.
Overall in the faculty more than one-in-six third year
engineering students, or 17 per cent, are female.
However, in third year chemical engineering this rises to 40 per
cent, and it is 20 per cent in civil engineering.
The head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Professor
Peter Linkson, said the popularity of chemistry among female high school
students could be one obvious reason for the large percentage of women in
chemical engineering.
Some women were also attracted to chemical engineering by a
desire to help the environment, he said.
Chemical engineers are responsible for treatment of effluent from
factories and the production of environmentally-acceptable products, as
well as working in conservation and recycling, and in environmental
consultancies.
The Department of Civil Engineering similarly finds many women
are attracted to the environmental engineering aspects of the profession.
Civil engineering also offers opportunities for involvement in
big infrastructure projects such as bridges, transportation and the
Sydney 2000 Olympics, all of which have attracted much interest in the
community.
A lecturer in the school of Civil and Mining Engineering, Dr
Murray Clarke, said: "The public prominence of major projects such as the
Sydney Harbour Tunnel, Olympics 2000 or the third runway at Sydney
airport may encourage women to consider the possibility of careers in
civil engineering."
"Women are interested in science and engineering for the ways it
benefits the community," Dr Clarke said.
Structural engineering is also closely aligned to architecture,
which may spark female high school students' interest and give an outlet
to those with technical skills and conceptual and artistic flair.
In addition, civil engineering encompasses the discipline of
project management in which women can apply managerial skills.
Once students start, the chemical engineering course is designed
to quickly dispel any fears that female students might have that their
male counterparts are more experienced in "practical things".
"In our applications laboratory in our first semester women find
they are just as good at mechanical work and they enter the following
semester with a confidence equal to that of men," Professor Linkson said.
---
1. Why do you think less women than men go into engineering?
2. Why do you think women are more likely to do chemical engineering than
other types?
3. What do you think would lead to more women choosing to study engineering?
4. Do you think mathematics is one of the most worthwhile and necessary
subjects to study at school?
5. Feel free to make any other comments here.
---------------------------------------------------
Would you like to receive the results of this survey when compiled?__
If I need some clarification, are you available to answer follow-up
questions?__
If you have any other comments about this survey, please comment here:__
Thankyou for taking part. Please forward your completed questionnaire to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with "survey" appearing in the subject line.
Forward any queries to me, not to the list.
Julianne Lynch
Graduate School of Education
La Trobe University
Bundoora 3083
Australia.
Tel. 03 9 479 2298
Facs. 03 9 479 3070
