When the exact same syllabus, only this time developed and taught by William Barker, a fictitious male, was distributed to a similar group of students, the evaluations instantly became more positive. Now the course was rated as far less biased, the work appeared fair and reasonable, the instructor credible and available to students. Taught by a male, the same course was considered more comprehensive and more attractive. Many female administrators, teachers, professors and counselors share similar experiences, believing that they must work harder simply to be considered equal. For males, there is an unspoken, often unconscious, sense of entitlement.
Male entitlement is reflected in their belief that they influence school policy.
It is no wonder, therefore, that political forces can exploit female alienation and cultural resistance to feminism to promote their conservative social agenda, which brings us to our final update. Thirty years ago, when Myra and I first began to research gender bias, we thought that the task was pretty straightforward. First we would objectively analyze schools to see if bias really existed. If we found bias, we would document the inequities and work on solutions. We thought that armed with knowledge, people would want to change.