Education: Where the Boys Aren’t
During Civil Beat‘s analysis of the nearly 22,000 employee salaries in the Hawaii Department of Education, we had a little fun and teased the data to tell us the most common first and last names of school system employees.
We were surprised when we discovered something serious, that the school system seems to fulfill a traditional stereotype that women dominate education. To read the other articles: Civil Beat Shares Department of Education Salaries, Highest Paid in the Hawaii Department of Education and Lowest Paid in the Hawaii Department of Education.
Eight out of the 10 most popular first names belonged to women. Lisa comes in first, with 188 employees having the name in common. Susan comes in second with 132 employees by that name.
The only two male names to make it into the top 10 are Michael and David, occuring 165 and 130 times respectively, on the department’s payroll.
The department’s own data show that 86 percent of newly hired elementary school teachers in the 2008-09 school year were women. The percentage was lower among newly hired secondary teachers: 61 percent were women.
Source: Hawaii Department of Education
That is consistent with national trends. of elementary school teachers were female in the 2007-08 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics — about the same percentage as in 1999-2000.
Acting Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe said he isn’t sure why there is such a high ratio of women to men in the department.
“I would suspect it has a little bit to do with the typical types of jobs and fields of study that people tend to go into,” he said. “Traditionally men took more business type jobs and didn’t go into teaching.”
And he speculates the extreme percentages are found mostly in teaching positions. The department’s work force as a whole might reflect a more equal distribution of men and women.
But the education landscape is changing, Nozoe said, and over time he expects that even in the teaching field, the gender ratio will become more balanced. The department follows practices during the hiring process, he added.
“It’s important that kids have that opportunity to engage with both men and women,” said Nozoe, a former teacher and principal. “Not that one is more qualified than another — it has nothing to do with that — but it just gives kids a chance to interact with both.”
Although the department is a diverse organization, some last names were more popular than others.
Ten of the top 11 last names were Asian. Lee is the most popular last name, with 131 employees sharing it. The only non-Asian last name in the top 11 is Smith.
See graphics showing the most popular first and last names.
