Gender Discrimination and Media

Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA
Early Childhood Education in Australia
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1EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA
Gender Discrimination and Media
Australia has struggled with many social and cultural issues for decades now.
Between these issues gender inequality and discrimination has become the most worrying
issue ("Face the facts: Gender Equality 2018 | Australian Human Rights Commission", 2018).
This gender discrimination has its roots in the history of Australian culture and post-colonial
recovery. Many factors lead to such gender inequality are gender inequality in childhood and
transition education, lack of education in gender equality in schools, culture and belief, lack
of awareness and failure of media in highlighting the issue (Evans et al.).
Gender Issues Voiced in Australian News Pages
Internet has been the source of knowledge and awareness since the last decade. People
nowadays depend on internet to deliver them with the latest of news and articles. It is also the
responsibility of these media to empower the readers with relevant contemporary issues to
create awareness. In Australia, the issue of gender inequality has sustained for long (Hyland,
2010). It has gone on to such depth that the newspapers, television media, as well as social
media have actively focused on the issue.
The Herald Sun reports that Australian education system has introduced lessons on
gender equality for young students of three years. The lesson will focus on deconstructing the
prescribed gender roles of males and females in Australian households. They will be given
the teaching that their fathers can take care of the children in the house whereas their mothers
might work. This $145,000 program will focus on the children that are aged from three to
four. They will be teaching the boys to become more sensitive and the girls will be directed to
become risk takers (Susie O’Brien & Argoon, 2018). This program aims to create gender
equality at a grass root level where the children learn to challenge the societal norms of

2EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA
gender divisions. Australian online news platform news.com.au reports that students
belonging to some primary and secondary schools in Western Australia will engage in a
learning program that aims at breaking the gender roles of society and reducing domestic
violence in Australian household. The program received much criticism from opposition and
other educationists (Foster, 2019).
Gender Issues in Australia and Social Media
Social media and its effects on people’s lives have become a worldwide phenomenon
right now. It has the ability to affect and shape opinion of mass people all over the world. It
has been found out that peer and parental education is elemental in childhood learning that
shape gender ideas within young minds. It was found out in a study that social media
platforms create gender-biased ideas within its users. The users that used more time surfing
internet and social media sites, have more conventional ideas of gender based social structure
and duties. Even though social media brings all the cultures, races and genders into one single
platform and people exchange ideas and opinions that are far more universal still it has not
been able to eradicate gender discrimination. The reason behind this is the way social media
works. People generally have their peers and friends in their circle. The ideas that are
discussed are from the same viewpoint. In the case they come across anything that negates
that idea, there is no one to guide the youngsters to right path and they might label the issue
belonging to other cultures and thus, inapplicable to theirs.
Literature Review
According to McCartin, (2016) students while entering early childhood education
from their home might face several issues. They might face difficulty as they might not have
been educated of the social, cultural and familial issues that might shape their gender
opinions. The study proposes a framework or program that will help the students to get ready