Gender equality: Schools have been told to encourage boys to play netball and take dancing lessons in addition to traditionally 'male sports'
Posted on 12/27/2007 12:06:29 PM PST by Stoat
Schools have been told to encourage boys to play netball and take dancing lessons in a bid to promote "gender equality".
The move which sees boys moving on to the traditionally female netball court is part of a Government drive to ensure that school children are more 'gender balanced'.
Every local authority in the country had to publish a "gender equality scheme" earlier this year to meet new anti-discrimination legislation.
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Gender equality: Schools have been told to encourage boys to play netball and take dancing lessons in addition to traditionally 'male sports'
As a result hundreds of schools have adopted schemes that suggest boys should take up traditionally female pursuits - and vice versa.
Schools most also ensure that more girls study traditionally masculine subjects such as science.
In preparing their guidelines for schools, a string of councils around the country, including Plymouth Leicester, Nottingham and Buckinghamshire posed the question: "Do you encourage girls to participate in rugby, cricket, football and basketball and boys in netball, rounders, badminton and dance?"
Schools are encouraged to develop "open-minded attitudes" and promote positive role models for boys and girls.
They are also asked: "Does your school challenge gender stereotyping?"
The requirement to publish a Gender Equality Scheme came into force in April this year and each local authority must revise and adapt its plan every three years.
The plan is a response to updated sex discrimination legislation that says it is unlawful for schools to provide classes for only one sex where this would amount to less favourable treatment of the other sex.
It has been taken by some cautious schools to mean that not offering netball lessons to boys is discriminatory.
However, some head teachers fear that council guidelines suggesting sports lessons be expanded to offer the same options to boys and girls could be a step too far.
Last night Mick Brookes, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "It doesn't make sense to promote things to boys that they don't want to do, simply so you can tick a box on a form."
It is legal for schools to confine competitive sports to single sexes where strength, stamina or physique puts a girl at a disadvantage to a boy.
It appears, however, that some schools may be reading too much into guidelines.
Guidance from the Women Sports Foundation on gender equality says that provision of sports does not need to be identical, but it must attract the same resources and meet the same standards.
It says for example: "Schools will not be expected to run football or rugby teams for girls where there is no demand, nor will they have to run netball teams for boys.
"But if girls demand a rugby team, schools could be expected to provide it."
A spokesman for the Equality and Human Rights Commission said it had not specified that schools provide netball and dance for boys.
She said: "The gender equality duty puts a duty on all public sector employers and people who provide public services to take action to promote equality. It's about outcomes, it's not prescriptive."
We do.
Unfortunately our British ‘reserve’ means we dont make enough of a fuss about it.
The Left always mocks the term “social engineering” but there is no other description for it.
That’s exactly what I read.
And they do this while constantly demeaning and sneering at pursuits and imagery that has been historically tied to masculinity:
etc. etc. etc.
It is indeed social engineering in the style of Goebbels.... "repeating the lie often enough" and all that.
LOL, a friend and I counted, every character has kissed someone of the same gender and someone of the opposite gender, leaving us really confused. It’s still a good show, though. Doesn’t it come on the Sci-Fi channel friday nights (right after Stargate Atlantis and Dr. Who) as well as BBC America?
LOL, a friend and I counted, every main character has kissed someone of the same gender and someone of the opposite gender, leaving us really confused. It’s still a good show, though. Doesn’t it come on the Sci-Fi channel friday nights (right after Stargate Atlantis and Dr. Who) as well as BBC America?
That image is truly unpleasant, but is an appropriate reminder of “the perfect man” as envisioned by the militant-feminist and pro-homosexual Left
Non contact sport similar to basketball. Basketball is supposed to be a non contact sport too. Have you ever watched an NBA game?
Yes, I thinking that, when I played basketball in school, there wasn’t supposed to be tackling.
I don’t think I’ve ever watched an NBA game, although I’ve been in the room when people were watching NCAA basketball.
There is nothing in England worth saving.
They want girls to be boys and boys to be girls. Mentally deranged, arrogant bustards. They can’t leave the natural flow of life alone because “they know better”.
they never had them to begin with.
I thought it was making sure that the number of blondes, brunettes and redheads you dated was proportional. Silly me...
And also because the homosexuals and the homophilic Leftists know full well, deep down, that they have an aberrant mental disorder which makes them this way, and they have the choice of either being honest about their disorder or they can try to justify it as an "alternative lifestyle" and force acceptance and deification of their psychiatric imbalance upon the rest of healthy society by screeching at us about how "closed minded" we are. Some have caved into this politically-motivated guilt trip but thankfully most of us have not.
They’re really going to be pissed when they find that the boys can’t have a period.
LMAO!
I recall a South Park episode that had that as it's theme :-)
The West needs warriors, and these a**holes want to turn out more girly-men, damn them to all hell.
I was only ever at one NBA game in person. And if the players were on the street and did to each other what they were doing on the court, a cop would break it up and arrest someone.
I love SP for that reason. They never miss a thing.
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