GENDER EQUITY IN THE CLASSROOM:

SOME FACTS ABOUT GENDER

• Gender identity is fluid, not strictly binary.
• Gender identity is a self label that children form in early elementary school.
• The same construction of identity occurs for transgender children as for any other gender at around the same age

RELEVANCE TO PRIMARY EDUCATION

• Majority of transgender children are non apparent. In one study, 2/3 of transgender people did not tell anyone until after age 18.
• An average delay of 7.5 years has been found between transgender awareness & access to language to describe it.
• Gender norms are more ruthlessly enforced by children than by adults.
• Transgender children pick up socially that their identity is unacceptable.
• Cost to transgender children of suppression: isolation, internalization of fault, lower performance in school, poor mental health, more likely to commit self- harm or suicide as a young adult.

WHAT TEACHERS CAN DO

• Use gender neutral language.
• Don't sort children according to gender.
• Talk about gender stereotypes critically as a class (e.x. boy/girl activities).
• Read books that address issues of gender stereotyping (e.x. William's Doll, Oliver Button is a Sissy).
• Become familiar with your students' individual gender identities.

Major Takeaway:
Schools can and should work to reverse the trend of marginalization of transgender children and in doing so empower all children to succeed as their true selves.