LINKS to our TWINS' School websites

Romania

http://www.sincaicj.ro/index.php

COMPARISON BETWEEN FRENCH & ROMANIAN SURVEYS

The first slide shows that the majority of pupils think that teachers do not make any difference between girls and boys in class. It may be due to the fact that in France, school and education is free, compulsory and opened to both boys and girls equally ; there are no single-sex schools.

France and Romania seem to have the same educational system so pupils do not suffer from gender discrimination.

The second slide shows that the majority of teenagers think that, whatever their gender, their parents want them to have good marks to have a good job later, because parents consider being good at school is important to find a better job later. It also due to the fact parents want the best for their children.

The third and fourth slides show that an important percentage of pupils and parents agree that education is essential for boys and girls equally, in terms of professional and personal achievement. It may suggest that children, like their parents, are aware that having a good education means having a good job in nowadays society and also that a good job may be essential to personal achievement.

Again France and Romania seem to have the same opinion on questions 2,3 and, regarding the importance of education, maybe because they have an identical cultural and educational background and that society in European countries are very much alike.

On the fifth slide, the majority of girls think that boys and girls are expected the same participation into the house chores, whereas still half of the boys think girls are expected to do more housework.

This may suggest that mentalities are changing within families as to gender roles but this change is still very slow.

This vision of slow evolving family values is even more perceptible in the answers of our Romanian friends. Tradition seems to be very difficult to get rid of !!

The sixth slide on how women are treated in society shows that men are treated more respectfully than women : 15 girls out of 18 say so but 10 boys out of 18 consider that men and women are treated equally. This may be explained by the fact that still a lot of people , especially men believe men are better than women.

Here Romanian and French visions are completely opposite maybe because they did not consider the same criteria when they answered the question of « respect ». In France we understood respect as « equal treatment for equal work » for example ; identical expectations from men and women.

Finally the last slide about how the media show women suggests that in France, half of the youngsters think that the standards are applied to girls only and half to both equally. This may be due to the fact that French advertising campaigns shows as many men and women.

Apparently in Romania high beauty standards are applied mainly to women. This is in keeping with the answers to questions five and six, suggesting Romanian traditional vision of women and gender roles are still prevailing.

The conclusion of this comparison is that education seems to be the only non discriminatory element of the survey in both countries. So it should also be the field in which we have to work to make mentalities and society change.

India

http://www.shrishikshayatanschool.com/

Letters from our Indian Twins describing Indian traditions and what they understand by gender discrimination

COMPARISON BETWEEN FRENCH & INDIAN SURVEYS

For the first question Indian girls seem to agree with French and Romanian pupils. They do not feel that their teachers make differences between girls and boys in class.

For the second question Indian and French pupils do not agree at all. In France parents want their child to have good marks to get a good job later whatever their gender. In India it seems that parents rather focus on the fact their children need to be the best at school, whatever their gender. So in India, school and education are viewed as important in themselves whereas in France they seem to be important for the professional future rather than the personal achievement of the child.

Indians and French youngsters agree that education is essential to personal and professional achievement whatever the gender. Their parents also have the same opinion. This suggests that mentalities have evolved both in France and in India and that education is now important in the eyes of adults and parents too.

In France the majority of girls think that both boys and girls are expected to do housework equally whereas half of the boys think girls do more housework and half of them think that both boys and girls do the same housework.

In India the majority of girls think that girls are expected to do more housework. This suggests a difference between France and India where the housework seems to be meant for girls rather than an equal sharing between boys and girls.

As to how men and women are treated in society, France and India proportionaly agree that men are treated more respectfully. But in France we can notice that there are more boys who think that there is no difference between men and women in society.This may suggests that in India gender discrimination at work is still very high and also that French boys, because they are boys, are not aware of that discrimination !

Finally as to how the media apply their standards of beauty , in India two thirds of the girls think that girls only are concerned by these high beauty standards, whereas in France, half of the youngsters think that the standards are applied to girls only and half to both equally. Thus the media are seen as more discriminatory in India than in France.