Gender equality in university teaching : from universability to specificity

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze whether to include or not, and how would integrate, in this case, the meaning and outreach of gender equality among women and men in the teaching endeavor. Twenty-five professors from the seven centers of Universidad de Alicante (Alicante’s University) participated in this qualitative focused investigation. An ad hoc designed descriptive interview was the instrument used for this study. The Aqua 7 software was used for data analysis. The findings reveal that professors consider that gender approach is important in the university teaching endeavor, although there is a considerable presence of voices pointing that it is not, and even affirm that it diminishes the quality of the courses that they teach. In like manner, the staff conforming professors or those in favor argue that they do not require specific instruction, however, they contradictorily highlight some intervening restrictive factors such as the complexity and unawareness on the subject and the lack of feminine referents in their knowledge scope. It may be said that the inclusion of gender approach has not reached the university classrooms; that the legal framework dealing with the gender issue has not produced neither effective nor functional results; that staff professors resent its inclusion in the teaching process and that gender inclusion rests on the will of only some professors who are partially convinced of its advantages and need.