Single-sex schools are the foundation of a sexist future
By Max Walker
Australia has come far on its journey towards gender equality, however a glaring example of discrimination still stands strong. In this piece, year 11 student Max Walker argues for the end of single-sex schooling.
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Even if progress is slow, Australia has come far in its journey for gender equality.
Rather than continuing to be what we once were – a society which encouraged and embedded a patriarchal system of thoughts and actions into people’s lives – we’ve become a society which is working to dismantle that system, limit gender discrimination and pave the path towards an equal future.
And yet, in our search for gender equality, we’ve forgotten about one form of gender discrimination. One that’s hidden itself away from our public discourse, and which hasn’t been eliminated by any of the reforms of the past few decades.
That form of gender discrimination is the existence of single-sex schools.
Despite the fact that legislation in every Australian state defines single-sex schooling as a form of (legal) gender discrimination, our political discourse has failed to discuss the devastating impacts these schools have on Australia’s progress towards gender quality.
Bar a few examples of elitism in private all-boys schools – like this Four Corners exposé – the general public seems to view single-sex schools as unproblematic. Calls to ban single-sex schools are few and far between, and even the modern gender equality movement struggles to discuss the issue.
That lack of action from the gender equality movement should concern every one of us, because anecdotal experiences and scientific evidence both make clear that single-sex education cannot coexist with a society free of gender discrimination.
I’ve been in a single-sex school long enough to know that, at single-sex schools, members of the opposite sex are perceived more as rare commodities than they are human beings. Students burst at the opportunity to see someone of the other gender – not to become friends with them, but to check them out.
This mentality is reinforced by the sad reality that, after spending years in single-sex schools, students just aren’t very good at interacting with the opposite gender. From this stems a lack of social confidence, which further discourages students from interacting with the other gender.
This lack of interaction can encourage students at single-sex schools to accept sexist attitudes as the norm. Was it a coincidence that the infamous St Kevin’s College video – a video of school boys chanting a sexually degrading chant in a public train – was a video of boys from a single-sex school? According to several studies, the answer would be a resounding no.
As well as sexism, queerphobia is often heightened at these schools. Homophobia is heightened, and trans youth are pushed even further to the fringes - often forced to leave their school should they choose to transition.
These impacts should be clear to advocates in the gender equality movement.
Still, people often defend single-sex education by talking about the benefits that come from separating women from men. In particular, they talk about how single-sex schools allow women to avoid abusive men in both classroom and outside-of-school settings. They don’t have to deal with sexism inside or outside the classroom that undermines their learning or, in worse cases, instances of abuse that can do irreversible damage to their personal identity and self-esteem.
But in practice, we’re just kicking the can down the road, rather than resolving the problem.
Sexism often becomes engrained into boys at single-sex schools because of the sheer volume of sexism they are exposed to. It’s later in life, when these boys grow up, that women will have to experience their sexism, and in equally crucial spaces – in the workplace, in politics and positions of power, in the dating arena, and just about any other setting else you can imagine. Not only do researchers tell us this is true, but it’s also logically true; sexism in childhood almost always leads to sexism in adulthood.
By contrast, researchers have found that exposure to a person leads to less discrimination towards them. This methodology is implemented at co-ed schools, where there’s been scarce evidence of sexist cultures developing.
It’s simple – co-ed schools produce fewer sexist men. So, when we continue single-sex education to benefit girls at single-sex schools, we are simultaneously seeding the sexism that they and others will experience for the rest of their life. We do this despite the fact that there is no educational benefit at single-sex schools. Is that really a worthwhile trade-off?
A progressive view of gender would also acknowledge that most children are too young to make a conscious decision about their gender, and that they should not suffer as a result. Trans youth, among others, are expected to have to deal with a gender identity they are too young to change, simply because society upholds a discriminatory system to the advantage of, at best, a few, and at worst, no one.
We pretend that single-sex schools are protecting people from gender discrimination, but they’re doing the exact opposite. A society that is truly free of discrimination based on a person’s gender requires us to dismantle single-sex education.
Without that step, we’ll be paving the way towards a sexist future, not an equal one.
About the author
Max Walker
Max is a Year 11 student from Brisbane who currently serves on the Australian Government's Youth Steering Committee, an advisory committee made up of young people from across Australia which oversees the Engage! strategy. He's passionate about policymaking and believes the government, as a mechanism to positively impact the lives of all Australians, is severely underutilized. He hopes to give a voice to marginalized young people from across Queensland and open up discussions on issues that are often left out of Australia's political discourse.
You can find Max on Instagram at @maxwofficial.
A fantastic article Max, and I agree with most of what is said. However, as a young woman who attended an all-girls school, I will say that I wouldn’t change it for anything. An all girls environment provides a safe haven for girls to learn and perform well as neutral students without the fear of toxic masculinity making their intelligence and performance seem less-valued, as the ‘real world’ often does. I would love a world where single-sex schools would be unnecessary, but it’s dangerous being a girl in Australia at the moment. A good example to illustrate that is the fact my school ran annual classes in self-defence and avoiding dangerous situations when dating and partying, both of which (and I hate to say this) were necessary and have come in useful for most of my peers.
My time at school was the only time I wasn’t keenly aware of my femininity and could just get on with it. There’s no glass ceiling for a girl at an all girls school. Stepping into a male dominated industry made me realise that more than ever.
We know that boys are the main beneficiaries of coeducational, often at the expense of girls’ education and safety. I don’t think it’s fair to offer girls up as the sacrificial lamb to counter young men’s sexism. Being subjected to gendered abuse and sexism at a young age can have really negative consequences for girls’ education and mental health so I don’t think it’s ’kicking the can down the road’ to protect the safety of girls while they are particularly vulnerable to the harms of gendered violence from their (male) peers.