Awareness of secondary school 6th, 7th and 8th grade students about gender inequality and its use in language

Gender is the positions held by men and women in society. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the awareness of the 6th, 7th and 8th grade students of secondary school about gender inequality and its use in language. Case study, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the research. The study group was formed with a total of 344 participants from 10 different secondary schools in Malatya province, Battalgazi and Yeşilyurt districts, which were determined by purposive sampling method to represent different socio-economic levels. As the data collection tool used in the research, a worksheet consisting of two parts and seven questions, developed by the researcher, consisting of mutual dialogues, was used. Sub-dimensions determined while creating the worksheet; division of labor in the house, education life, playground and business life in social life. In the first part, dialogues consisting of gender inequality and unequal discourses were given and the participants were asked their thoughts about these dialogues, and it was aimed to determine their awareness of gender inequality and its use in language. In the dialogues given in the second part, one of the speech bubbles was left blank and the participants were asked to fill in these parts with their own expressions. Two different rubrics were developed by the researcher to evaluate the worksheet. The analysis of the obtained data was made with the content analysis method. As a result of the research, it was seen that the awareness level of the participants against gender inequality is high (X ̅  3.35) and their awareness level against discourses containing inequality is low (X ̅  2.34). It was concluded that the majority of the students participating in the study were aware of gender inequality, but they could not show awareness of the unequal discourses in the language and not using these discourses.