When Junior Deric Mei walked into his first physical education class this year, he was in for a surprise. In a class of thirty, he was the only boy.
“At first, I thought it was sort of weird,” said Mei. “I thought there would at least be one other guy.”But Mei, who takes Step Aerobics, is one of only two boys taking the Step Aerobics elective - a prime example of the ongoing gender imbalance in certain classes, clubs, and teams.
The accurate gender ratio at Stuyvesant is 57 males for 43 females - which Coordinator of Computer Science Mike Zamansky thinks should be the ratio in an ideal class. “Any given class should ideally be a cross section of the population,” he said.The gender imbalance has resulted from personal choice. “Females are simply more interested in aerobic exercises like dance and step aerobics, and gentlemen are going to prefer weightlifting and basketball,” Assistant Principal Health and Physical Education Martha Singer said. “Step aerobics is usually a female-dominated class, just as basketball is a male-dominated class.
“Principal Stanley Teitel agrees that it is the students who create gender-imbalanced classes. “The administration has no control over the number of boys and girls in certain classes,” Teitel said. “It is the students who elect themselves to form themselves into these classes.
“But societal stereotypes play an important role in the makeup of a class. “Most people think that dancing is for girls. I didn’t know it was a class for girls,” said Mei.
Junior Jenny Han also links the gender imbalance in Step Aerobics to societal notions. “I was surprised to find even one boy in my class because it is established that Step is a feminine activity. Boys would go for more masculine activities like weight training.
“While others may credit their physical education elective to physical capability, Singer suggests that these disparities have nothing to do with physical ability. “A girl is capable of playing basketball just like a boy is,” said Singer.
The gender imbalance in Stuyvesant’s Jazz Band (male to female ratio of 5:1) suggests that imbalance may be caused by the specifications of the course. Over the years, boys have preferred to take up instruments like the saxophone and the trombone, the two main instruments in the jazz band. Girls, on the other hand, have tended to play the flute, which is nonexistent in the jazz band. In the advanced woodwind band, where flutes are present, the ratio is closer to 1:1.
Zamansky believes that gender divides are formed because from historical biases. In Advanced Placement Computer Science, there are 114 boys and 38 girls, a ratio of 3:1. The gap widens at the more advanced Systems Level Programming course. “Most world societies are patriarchal,” Zamansky said. “In math, it makes sense that there is male dominance, because women were not given the same education. There shouldn’t be the same bias in computer science, since it is a relatively young field.
”Ratios in the scientific field correspond to the imbalance in the high school courses. According to the National Science Foundation (2003), women make up less than a quarter of all physical scientists and 10% of all engineers.
Whether or not it is necessary to correct gender imbalances is a debated issue. “It is a concern, but it’s also not something that I am compelled to do something about,” said Zamansky. For junior Ke Jiang, the imbalance doesn’t hinder classroom learning. “If a female student likes the subject, then there is nothing stopping her from learning.” Statistics do not suggest inequality in capability. “The success rate doesn’t break down along gender lines once [girls] are in the class,” said Zamansky.
However, current ratios also pose an obstacle for girls who may be interested in the subject. “No one wants to be ‘the girl’ in the class.” Until “the critical mass accepts the subject,” gender-specific seminars and individual encouragement serve as “band-aids,” said Zamansky.
Jiang said, “Females are discouraged to pursue computer science because they hear from other people that guys are the ones that are supposed to be ‘computer geeks’.
”Acceptance by critical mass is also something that is lacking for Stuyvesant’s Robotics Team, which has a male to female ratio of 3:1. “Many girls don’t want to join Robotics because of the nerd stereotype,” sophomore and team member Sarah Cohen-Smith said. “I definitely get a strange look from people when I tell them I am on the Robotics team.
”Forty years ago, gender diversity was not a concern at Stuyvesant. For its first fifty years, Stuyvesant was an all-boys school. This changed in 1969, when Stuyvesant and the other specialized high schools came under attack with charges such as bias and elitism. When the first twelve girls were admitted into Stuyvesant, there were no facilities for girls at all. Girl’s locker rooms and bathrooms had to quickly be made for this incoming group of students. However, Teitel admits that these facilities were not equal to the boy’s facilities already in existence. “We did what we could [about creating new girl’s facilities] based on what was available,” Teitel said. Facilities for boys and girls remained unequal until 1992, when Stuyvesant moved from its building on East 15 Street to its current home in Battery Park City.
Stuyvesant’s eventual acceptance of females is similar to the expansion that occurred in many universities throughout the 20th century. Prior to this, “university bylaws prevented women from entering graduate programs in many scientific fields” (Psychology of Women Quarterly, 311).Like many universities across America, Stuyvesant has developed into a learning environment in which resources are equally accessible by both genders. Its extensive course selection allows students to dabble in an array of subjects. When making course selections, gender imbalances should not prevent one from exercising this advantage. Imbalances exist in higher education and onward, but what Stuyvesant has to offer is “a solid foundation that will leave you comparable to others,” said Zamansky.