Investigation of gender perception of university students and the factors affecting their perceptions

ABSTRACT INVESTIGATION OF GENDER PERCEPTION OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND THE FACTORS AFFECTING THEIR PERCEPTIONS This study is a descriptive study that was conducted with the aim of investigating gender mainstreaming perception of university students and the factors affecting the students' perceptions. The study was conducted on the students, who are attending to Faculty of Health Sciences in a university between the dates of October, 2017 and October, 2018. The data for the study was gathered between the dates of October, 2017 and October, 2018.A total of 802 students, who attend the related faculty between the stated dates, form the all population of the study. All the population was accepted as the sample, but the study was completed with a total of 702 students. Allowance for using the survey, approve of the ethics comite, allowance of the institution were obtained for the study and the students, who were volunteers, were included in the study. Identity form and 'Survey of Gender Mainstreaming Perception' were used for the data collection. The data was collected at the classroom atmosphere and the data in the program for windows were analyzed in terms of mean, standard deviation, maximum value and percentile rules in SPSS computer program. It was determined that avarege age of the students was 20,7±1.67, %71,1 of them were female and %99 of them were single in the study. It is observed that %64,6 of the students' mother educational status and %64,6 of the students'father educational status are at the level of primary school and lower. It is stated that %76,8 of the students' family type is nuclear family and %56.7 of them are still living with their familiesIt is stated that %36,9 of the students are attending the department of nursing. %30, 1 of the students has been attending to third grade and %67 of the students has not attended any gender mainstreaming lesson. It is concluded that the gender mainstreaming perception of the university students in this study are above the medium and positive. It is found that education status of the students' parents affects the gender mainstreaming perception of the students. The gender mainstreaming perception of the students, whose parents' education status is high, have more positive perception than the rest of the students. It is found that the department that the students attend affects their gender mainstreaming perception. It is also found that the gender mainstreaming perception of the students, who attend the department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, is more positive than the other students. Certain suggestions are presented with regard to the results that is obtained from the study. Key Words: Gender, Perception Towards Gender, University Students