Sex Segregation - Education

Education

The decorative doors of PS116 in Murray Hill, Manhattan feature separate entrances for male and female students.

In much of the world education, especially institutional education, was available only to boys until the last few hundred years. In some parts of the world, especially in Europe, when education was made available to girls as well as boys, educational establishments were frequently single-gender, a situation which in exists in both Australia and the United Kingdom to this day. Sometimes a reason was historical – an all-male education institution maintaining the status quo. Arguments were made that the presence of the opposite sex would distract students from their studies, as well as allowing for inappropriate conduct.

There have been studies conducted to analyze whether single-sex schools or co-ed schools produce better educational outcomes, but each has its advocates and critics. Even in co-ed schools, certain classes, such as sex education, are sometimes segregated on the basis of gender. Some schools decide to segregate students only in core subjects; this is called parallel education.

Sex discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of that person’s sex.

Sex discrimination also can involve treating someone less favorably because of his or her connection with an organization or group that is generally associated with people of a certain sex.

In Louisiana following the forced race integration of public schools, the schools were segregated by sex. St. Bernard and Jefferson Parishes (surrounding New Orleans) instituted sex segregation to reduce the likelihood of black and white students dating. The last year of sex segregation in Jefferson Parish public schools was 1975.