GENDER DISCRIMINATION AMONG SECONDARY STUDENTS IN DOMALANDAN

CENTER INTEGRATED SCHOOL

I. Introduction and Rationale

The passage of Senate Bill No. 2122 also known as An Act Prohibiting

Discrimination on the Basis of Ethnicity, Race, Religion or Belief, Social Class, Sex,

Gender, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression and of Department

of Education (DepEdl) Order. No. 32, s. 2017 which issued a gender-responsive basic

education policy legally obligated schools to provide equal opportunities to and equal

treatment of all students in our schools, regardless of gender. Has this been successful?

Are gender inequities in our schools a thing of the past? Research suggests that gender

discrimination is still thriving in today’s classrooms (Sadker & Sadker, 2014; American

Association of University Women, 2011). Among those practices that can be seen as

discriminating are the over- or under-representation of one gender in a curriculum

offering; teacher expectations related to or affected by student gender; and classroom

practices such as teaching methods or discipline that disproportionately affect one

gender or group (Steitmatter, 2014).

The awareness of gender within schools assures that girls are made aware that

they are unequal to boys. Every time students are seated or lined up by gender,

teachers are affirming that girls and boys should be treated differently. When an

administrator ignores an act of sexual harassment, he or she is allowing the degradation

of girls. When different behaviors are tolerated for boys than for girls because ‘boys will

be boy’ schools are perpetuating the oppression of females. There is some evidence

that girls are becoming more academically successful than boys, however examination
of the classroom shows that girls and boys continue to be socialized in ways that work

against gender equity (Mulrine, 2001). Add to this how members of the third sex are

treated or discriminated in the school.

Investigations focused on life experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth

suggest that up to 84 per cent report verbal harassment (Poteat and Espelage, 2005), a

quarter report physical harassment (Elze, 2003; Pilkington and D'Augelli, 2005), and up

to 70 per cent experience problems in school due to prejudice and discrimination based

on sexual orientation (Remafedi, 20077; Saewyc et al., 2007; Telljohann and Price,

1993). Victimization of lesbian and gay youth has been identified across elementary

(Solomon, 2004), high-school (Bullagay et al., 2012; Tandoc, 2013; Williams et al.,

2015) and university (Dacal, 2015) settings. Moreover, lesbian and gay youth often hear

derogatory homophobic comments and labels directed towards individuals regardless of

their sexual orientation (Cabrera and Fungo, 2015). It has been suggested that

homophobic bullying is pervasive, insidious and starts early (Mallon, 2011; Solomon and

Russel, 2014).
The Domalandan Center Integrated School caters to students with varied gender

identity and sexual orientation. The learning environment in the school is made inclusive

across all genders. It has been observed though that students whose sexual orientation

and gender identities are different from the majority become subject to name calling,

heckling, source of amusement and in the process are discriminated due to their gender

identity and expression. In this study, the researchers aim to increase understanding of

bullying of lesbian- and gay-identified students. Given the lack of literature on bullying of

lesbian and gay students, the researchers shall explore this phenomenon through the

perspectives of key informants who are lesbian and gay themselves.

II. Review of Literature
III. Research Questions
IV. Research Methodology
a. Research Design
Qualitative phenomenological methodology shall be used in this study as

discrimination or bullying of gays and lesbians is a phenomenon with little research

focus. Cresswell (2003) stressed that qualitative research provides a method for

researchers to learn about a phenomenon that has little research through exploration of

the experiences of people in their natural environment. This qualitative study aims to

look into how students who are openly gays and lesbians are discriminated by their

fellow students and/or classmates in school.

b. Participants
The sample shall comprise 4 Grade 11 students representative of the 4 tracks,

namely, Automotive Servicing, Dressmaking, General Academic and Shielded Metal Arc

Welding. The selection has been done on the basis of the representation of the four (4)

tracks offered at DCIS and their admittance to being gays and lesbians. c. Instruments
This study shall employ a demographics questionnaire and interview guide to

gather the data needed. A demographics questionnaire shall be created in this study

that shall include categories such as age, sex and track while an interview guide used to

conduct face-to face semi-structured interviews with the four participants.

c. Plan for Data Analysis

After the interview process is done, the researchers shall transcribe and analyze

the findings related to the data base of this study. Themes shall be identified as result of

the data analysis.