When I was in high school we could opt to take Maths Core or Maths Literacy. I love Maths and had always been one of the top students so I obviously took Maths Core. I was one of about ten girls in a class of thirty or so students. From the beginning our Maths teacher made sexist jokes and made it quite clear that he didn’t think that women could be mathematicians. It got so bad that every single one of the girls in the class dropped the subject except for me. I endured sexist bullying on a day to day basis. Guys in the class who I thought were my friends joined in saying it was just harmless fun… Some bright spark brought an FHM pinup to class and fixed it to the ceiling as part of this ‘fun’. I protested it but then I was told I was being whiney. It was there for over two weeks before it was taken down, presumably by another teacher. I don’t know why I never reported this behaviour, I guess I wanted to prove something by sticking it out. I remained one of the top students in the class but all of the girls who dropped it were deprived the chance to study further in the science fields, because you need Maths Core for university acceptance in those fields, all because of one teacher’s sexism… And one girl’s failure to report it, I guess 🙁 I left before Matric so maybe they got another teacher and took the subject in the end but still… He was a brilliant teacher and I learnt a lot from him once he got over the fact that I was female but his behaviour damaged so many people and perpetuated dangerous gender stereotypes in the minds of his male students as well.
