Gender Literacy Among Primary School Teachers In Indonesia and Malaysia: Comparing Gender Concepts, Leadership, Violence, Double Burden, and Classroom Management

Abstract

Gender equality in basic education is a strategic global agenda that positions teachers as key actors in shaping the social construction of relations between men and women. This study aims to describe and compare the level of gender literacy among elementary school teachers in Indonesia and Malaysia across five dimensions: gender concept, double burden, gender-based leadership, gender-based violence, and gender-based classroom management. The study employed a comparative descriptive quantitative design with 200 respondents (100 Indonesian teachers and 100 Malaysian teachers) randomly selected from various regions. The instrument was a 45-item closed-ended questionnaire with very high reliability (Cronbach's Alpha = 0.921). Data were analyzed using percentage-based descriptive statistics. The results show that Indonesian teachers scored relatively higher on the dimensions of gender concept and leadership, while Malaysian teachers scored higher on the double-burden dimension. On the gender-based violence dimension, both countries showed a moderate level of understanding with an ambivalent tendency. The findings indicate that conceptual understanding of gender has not yet been fully accompanied by critical awareness of gender-based injustice within a patriarchal socio-cultural context. This study affirms the urgency of strengthening gender literacy in teachers' professional development in order to realize gender-responsive basic education in Southeast Asia.