Psychology in the Egyptian Classroom and Young Women's Empowerment

Many psychology instructors approach the topic of gender with considerable resistance and apprehension (Weinstein and Obear). Some professors may be reluctant to incorporate gender issues into their psychology courses due to their fear of altering their teaching practices (Kowlaski). Others may be unable to present their views on gender in an unbiased way, so they avoid gender-related discussions (Ford, Grossman, and Jordan). This matter is even more complex in the Arab world because Arab traditions maintain a hierarchical order in the family, where dominance of male over female and older over younger is often observed (El-Islam). Accordingly, teaching a psychology course that covers gender issues in an Arab context may necessitate caution, tactfulness, and extreme sensitivity.

In this paper, I argue that infusing gender issues into the contents of regular psychology courses may spark students' interest in the subject and may also empower them. To illustrate this argument, I discuss a class assignment that was required of students enrolled in a Lifespan Development psychology course. This course examined environmental, cognitive, emotional, and socio-cultural influences on each major stage of human development from the moment of birth to the moment of death. I taught this course at a private university in Egypt, The American University in Cairo. The class met two times every week for a period of four months at the university campus in downtown Cairo. The language of instruction in this course was English, which is the official language of the university. All students who attended this course were young women: twenty-five were Egyptian and one was Palestinian.

Class Assignment

I asked students to submit weekly comments via Blackboard, which is a webbased course management system that allows the instructor and students to interact through the Internet. I expected students to write comments that reflected their personal reactions to the readings by making possible links to their daily life experiences. The deadline for submitting these comments was ten hours before regular class meetings. I also informed students that I would select certain comments and present them during class discussions without revealing the identities of those who made these comments. Ensuring the anonymity of the online comments might have led to the openness of the class discussions by allowing the emergence of opinions that could not be easily stated in a public forum. I informed students that class discussions would be the central element of the course, and I invited them to share their views about the readings and respond to their colleagues' comments. I also established rules to safeguard class discussions and create a safe environment in the classroom that would allow free expression of opinions. According to these rules, students were expected to respect different views and to have an attitude of inquiry and openness. Class rules also discouraged interrupting others, responding with sarcasm, and making offensive statements. These rules allowed for civil discussions, and they also encouraged a number of students to share their views while minimizing monopoly or disruption. I also attempted to ensure a safe class environment by inviting class members to have a group process of the class discussions, and I asked them to provide suggestions for improving these discussions. Despite these safeguards, it is nevertheless possible that some students did not feel completely safe while expressing their views, especially when these views were unconventional or unorthodox.

Instructor's Strategies and Goals

Appreciating the Importance of Class Discussion in Psychology Courses

Psychology can enhance the lives of students by allowing them to have deeper experiences and perceptions of their world. Moreover, psychology can help students experience personal growth by introducing them to the concept of identity development and the challenges they might face in achieving their identities. Inspired by the perspective that exchange of ideas and class discussions should be the central basis of learning, my intention was not to cram information into my students' heads and ask them to regurgitate facts in the exams. Rather, my goal was to help my students engage in class discussions that would help them examine and appreciate their own developmental processes, relate psychological principles to their...