A phenomenological approach to the involvement of female teachers in a secondary level from a gender focus

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to share some results derived from a research in the field of gender education, through a phenomenological approach on the participation of women teachers in the federal secondary school no. 13 from Ciudad Juárez. The information collected was through direct observation and through the application of 8 interviews to female teachers. The interpretive phenomenological paradigm constitutes a valuable intersubjective conceptual tool to arrive at the confirmation of a methodology with a foundation that is used to transform relationships with a sense of equity. The topics covered in the interviews gathered some points of view of this group of women from experiences in family, work and gender relations in the school setting. Despite the effort to introduce the gender perspective as a transversal axis in educational policy, there are important obstacles to overcome, such as the naturalization of violence in the competitive and hierarchical social system within which relationships in daily life are valued personally. In general, women teachers support an already established authority, especially if it is male, even in situations where they don’t always agree due to a sense of obedience. Women participate actively in school with their silence or without a clear awareness of the implications of participating, reproducing stereotypes daily, which leads to the invisibility of the problems of violence in the patriarchal system.