“Did you notice that?”

This is a common phrase we often find ourselves saying to one another in the classroom setting.

The first time we recognized ourselves saying this phrase was when I, Leila, raised my hand in class with a confident answer to another student’s question. I was immediately called on by the teacher and as soon as I started to explain my response, a male student interjected in a louder and more powerful tone. He then got credit for my original thought simply because he heard what I was saying and was able to say it louder. However, the teacher did not call out this interruption, but rather applauded the male student’s answer.

I, Julia, automatically recognized how the male student stole a female student’s thoughts. I quickly preceded to point this out to her, specifically the fact that our teacher failed to call out this behavior. Instead, our teacher only acknowledged the male student for coming up with “his” answer.

After talking, we came to the realization that this form of intellectual theft happens quite frequently in our classes and more prominently in our advanced classes. Teachers frequently are not calling out this behavior which allows for it to continue. This along with the fear of being judged for a wrong answer contributes to female hesitation to actively participate with confidence and assurance in class.

An evident product of people feeling uncomfortable or uncertain while in class is up-speaking. Up-speaking is when people end their thought in a higher voice than they had been speaking in before. By finishing speaking in a higher voice or question-like tone, it allows room for error. If a student states something with assurances they may feel more uncomfortable or embarrassed if they were incorrect. However by reformulating one’s statement to sound like a question allows other students to recognize uncertainty and decreases pressure from the person who made the initial comment. We’ve noticed that those who up-speak are normally females.

There are always quiet students, both male and female. However, amongst the normally outspoken “confident” students, males usually speak with more assurance than females even though deep down both genders may feel the assurance in their comment or answer.

Although not every boy contributes to an environment where girls feel uncomfortable sharing their opinion, we have noticed that it tends to be boys who interrupt girls and “steal their thunder”. Perhaps, they view this behavior as humourous, or they have an inner desire to always be correct, but many girls interpret this behavior of “jumping in”, and cutting girls off, to mean that their opinion is meaningless.

When someone laughs out loud at your answer, it can be rather impossible to distinguish whether they are laughing “with you” or “at you.” We have coincided that some boys laugh at the answers of their female counterparts which can make is rather uncomfortable and hesitant to raise our hand again. Every individual internalizes feedback from a situation differently, whether the feedback is verbal, physical, or social. Many girls have experienced a situation where a guy has laughed at them in class after they made a comment or wrote an answer on the board. The reality is that no matter how benign the intentions of the guy, the girl in some way or another internalized this laughter or mockery as negative feedback. They choose not to share their comment or write something on the board again for fear of the same thing happening.

For the past few weeks, we both have noticed these behaviors happening at least once in each of our classes, and everyday we have done our best to call it out and have conversations with people about the environment created.

Males are not only stealing from females. The theft goes both ways. However when it comes to our experiences, we have recognized males taking the ownership of female’s knowledge more often than females doing so to males. This is not an issue unique to Parker or even school in general. This is a growing issue throughout society and the only way to overcome it is to call out intellectual theft and any other unfair treatment. We need to make people aware that small interjections or amplification of ideas are not  minor issues. We need to address what is going on when we see it in class or see it in the entertainment industry. No matter where we see unfair treatment, we must speak up, raise questions, and create change.