(Y / N) CRITICAL VALUE = 5.9 FAVOURED 131. In films, I expect the role of a scientist to be played by a…
ALL Girls 37 87 224
4.2 N
ALL Boys 17 75 146
STATEMENT NUMBER GENDER AGREE DISAGREE CHI-SQUARE
SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE (Y / N) CRITICAL VALUE = 7.8 FAVOURED
119. When I visit the hospital I expect the doctor to be a White man rather than a Black African man.
ALL Girls 60 293
7.7 N
ALL Boys 51 189
120. When I visit the hospital I expect the doctor to be a White man rather than a Coloured man.
ALL Girls 41 313
8.8 Y: 5%
ALL Boys 41 198
122. When I visit the hospital I expect the nurse to be a Coloured/Black African woman rather than a Coloured/Black African man.
ALL Girls 92 262
1.8 N
ALL Boys 67 173
123. When my mother and father were young, I think that medical doctors were mostly White men rather than Coloured/Black African men.
ALL Girls 262 87
1.9 N
ALL Boys 188 50
124. When my mother and father were young, I think that medical doctors were mostly White men rather than White women.
ALL Girls 199 148
2.4 N
ALL Boys 150 86
In the statement that required responses from learners about the gender of scientists in films, the race of the individuals was kept constant whilst the gender differed. 62.9% of the girls and 59.8% of the boys responded that they expected both men and women in the role. In retrospect, in considering the composing of the survey questionnaire and in reference to this specific statement, whilst the race was kept constant, learners could have been given a ‘race-neutral’ choice to evaluate the extent of their expectation that the race of the person occupying the science career would have been White.
Whilst Statements 119 and 120 presented the learner with a choice between a White man and men of other race groups, the gender of the doctor was presented as male and therefore the stereotype was embedded in the statement. In the statement that presented a choice between a
White and Black man, there was a significantly stronger disagreement in all grades (80.33%) that the doctor would be a White male, which indicates that teenagers’ perceptions regarding racial stereotyping do not appear to be linked to the Apartheid practices of the past as they pertain to careers in the medical science field. These teenagers show little or no institutional knowledge of Apartheid practices pertaining to the Industrial Colour Bar as it affected employment practices. Slightly more girls (82.3%) than boys (77.4%) disagreed with the statement, another indication that girls have progressed further along the line moving away from stereotyping careers than boys have. There is a shift in perceptions from the situation during Apartheid (when most medical doctors could have been expected to be White) to one where young people today largely expect to encounter doctors from other races when they visit the hospital. This is also an indication that learners are experiencing the practical outcome of the democratisation of careers to include all race groups. Learners’ life experiences have spawned a break with the past as regards racial stereotyping in careers in the medical science field but this break is not as pronounced as the break with gender stereotyping. To place this phenomenon in context, one also needs to bear in mind that the learners participating in the survey questionnaire are 16 years and younger. The eldest amongst them were born just a year before democratic elections took place in South Africa. Aside from living in geographical areas that are racialised spaces and by implication being affected by the racially based policies of the Apartheid government, most of the learners experienced no other institutionalised, formal discriminatory Apartheid practices.
There is a statistically significant difference between the responses of the girls and the boys to the statement regarding the race of the male medical doctor. In comparing responses to Statements 119 and 120, when the expecatations of the racial label was changed from Coloured as opposed to White, there was an even stronger disagreement from both girls and boys. In Statement 120, when the racial label was changed to a Coloured man as opposed to a White man, there was an even stronger disagreement from both girls and boys compared to Statement119. This could imply that learners would expect a Coloured man rather than a Black African man to be the doctor. Since most of the learners participating in the survey questionnaire are regarded as Coloured, one could expect that they would expect to see a Coloured medical doctor rather than a White one. As is the case in the data relating to Statement 119, slightly more girls (87.9%) than boys (81.1%) disagreed with the statement, once again indicating a progressive move away from stereotyping by girls as compared with the boys. A closer investigation of racial and gender nuances needs to be done with regard to the previous comment.
In the survey questionnaire, learners were also presented with a choice of gender for the career where the race of the individual was kept constant. Girl (73.6%) and boy (70.9%) learners
both largely disagreed with the statement indicating a woman rather than a man being a nurse, showing that the perception that nurses are expected to be women has changed. Responses to the statement with regard to the gender of a nurse show no statistically significant differences between girls and boys, indicating change across gender of this perception.
Learners were expected to select categories of responses about the perceived racial configuration of medical personnel in the past by relating to a situation that they think occurred in their parents’ time. These statements are an attempt to establish whether there has been a change in the perception of the racial composition of medical personnel from the learners’ parents’ generations and themselves. Girls (73.6%) and boys (70.2%) strongly agreed that medical doctors were mostly White men rather than Coloured or Black African men in their parents’ time. With the gender in the comparisons being kept constant, the emphasis was on race: there was a clear change in the perception of what the race of the medical officer is now and was then. There was also agreement, albeit statistically less strong, from the boys (61.5%) and girls (55.9%) with the statement that doctors in their parents’ time were White men rather than women. The emphasis in the statement was thus focused on gender rather than race. Learners’ responses indicate a perception that, in their parents’ generation, men occupied these professions rather than women, in a sense confirming the existence of the stereotype through the generations from parent to child. Statistics for learner responses about the race of medical personnel in their parents’ time appear to indicate that learners perceived a change in the race of individuals in medical careers. It is clear that perceptions of race as a factor in who occupies careers is still prevalent in the thinking of learners, although there is a clear indication that ‘things have changed’ from the time of their parents. Once again, this confirms that interventions in the private and public sectors on the racial composition of occupations are having an effect.
An analysis was also completed of the statistics of statements pertaining to the racial profiling of science careers for the Grades 7 and 9 girls and boys to establish whether there is any gender and grade difference in the opinions of primary school Grade 7 girls and boys and secondary school Grade 9 girls and boys. The data are presented in Figure 5.17 below: