A liberal feminist critique of single-sex schools

• Main Author: Dueñas, Zaldy D., III
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2024
• Subjects: Sex discrimination in education; Single-sex schools; Coeducation; Education; Gender and Sexuality
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/12590
• Institution: De La Salle University

This paper examines the debates between single-sex education and coeducation schooling, focusing on gender equity. Some feminists argue that gender equity can be achieved through single-sex education, while others advocate for coeducation. The former is said to provide more involvement and opportunities to female students, whereas the latter is seen as a more congenial environment and more tolerant of differences. In line with this, this paper evaluates the importance and relevance of a school’s or learning environment’s sex composition in light of liberal feminism, which asserts that women and men have equal rationality and that women can similarly contribute to society if provided the same education. That said, it finds that existing studies on the topic show mixed and inconsistent results and that both single-sex and mixed-sex schooling present advantages and disadvantages to women because of gender equity, academic outcomes, and responsiveness to learning needs. Meanwhile, despite the apparent dominance of mixed-sex schooling in the current educational landscape, single-sex schools indicate accessibility and availability of school alternatives for learners.