The purpose of this study was to determine Impact of Gender of Lecturers’ on Learning among the College of Arts and Commerce Students’ at Andhra University. Systematic data collection and analysis efforts resulted in the following findings: A question was presented to find out which lecturer gender produces difficult examination questions. According to the findings, 74 (51.4%) of respondents stated it was mostly male lecturers, 56 (38.9%) said it was a balance of male and female lecturers, and 15 (10.4%) said it was female lecturers. Again, Students were asked a question to determine which lecturer gender teaching styles they liked. According to the findings, 47 (32.6 %) of respondents chose male lecturers, 34 (23.6 %) preferred female lecturers, and the majority of respondents 63 (43.8 %) preferred both male and female lecturers. Furthermore, Students were asked a question to determine which lecturer gender they preferred. According to the findings, 54(37.5%) of respondents chose male lecturers, 27(18.8%) preferred female lecturers, and the majority of respondents 64 (44.4 %) preferred both male and female lecturers. Finally, Students were asked a question to determine which lecturer gender they feel most comfortable approaching. According to the findings, 40(27.8%) of respondents chose female lecturers, 49(34%) preferred male lecturers, and the majority of respondents 55 (38.2%) preferred both male and female lecturers. Suggestions were made to establish an effective and conducive teaching atmosphere between lecturers and students at Andhra University College of Arts and Commerce.

1. Introduction

Gender is a sociological concept that is used to define social distinctions between men and women and from which these differences can be deduced [1]. Gender inequality in the workplace is equated with inequalities between men and women on a number of levels: women are employed in “female” positions as opposed to men who are hired in “masculine” ones, income levels, the number of women holding crucial positions, and more [2]. Gender stereotypes exist as well, and are defined as “common, rigid, and generalised patterns of thought that ascribe to men and women characteristics, personal qualities, and behaviours that are attributed to their biological gender and that do not take into account any individual reality” [3], [4]. Stereotypes cause individuals to attribute to men the qualities and functions associated with the male stereotype and to women the attributes associated with the feminine stereotype [5], [6].

Education is a process that assists future generations in acquiring new knowledge and improving their character, literacy, and abilities. It is the guiding principle for the growth of communities all around the world. Teaching, on the other hand, is a process in which one individual leads others in developing their talents and literacy. It is seen as a key action in the process of transferring knowledge to students [7], [8]. The lecturer, defined here as a professional or academic specialist working in higher education institutions who assists students in the learning process, is one of the most powerful variables influencing teaching and learning [9]. In a learning environment, lecturers’ behaviour is critical in assisting students to attain the intended learning goals of their courses or programmes [10]. Students’ experiences at educational institutions can be strongly influenced by their lecturers’ behaviours, even to the point where these behaviours may have an impact on students’ learning results [11]. In general, lecturers’ main behavioural tendencies include a punishing, rewarding, accommodating, criticising, or requiting approach [12]. It is thus imperative to study whether there is a link between the gender of lecturers and learning among students in the College of Arts and Commerce, particularly at Andhra University.

The answers to these essential questions would form solutions to this study’s problem statement.

2. Problem Statement

There are various schools of thought regarding the effect of lecturer gender on student accomplishment. Some schools of thought contend that lecturer gender has no effect on student accomplishment, but others contend that lecturer gender has an effect on student achievement. This study was conducted at Andhra University’s College of Arts and Commerce to elicit students’ opinions on the impact of lecturers’ gender on learning.

3. Study Objectives

The main objective of this study is to assess students’ viewpoints on the impact of lecturers’ gender on learning among students in the college of arts and commerce at Andhra University.

The study specifically seeks to;

1. To find out the general students opinion of lecturers’ gender
2. Examine the relationship between lecturers’ gender and the perceived difficulty of examination questions.
3. Assess students’ perceptions of their lecturers’ gender, as well as their teaching approaches and methods.
4. Study the relationship between the gender of the student and the gender of the preferred lecturers.
5. Examine the connection between lecturer gender and student participation in class.

The answers to these essential objectives would form solutions to this study’s problem statement.

4. Literature Review

According to [13], female instructors in elementary and middle schools outperform their male counterparts in terms of enhancing both male and female student achievement. The benefits of having female math teachers are especially significant for female students’ arithmetic achievement, but they found no indication of a beneficial gender matching impact in English language arts. Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, males do not perform better academically when allocated to male teachers. Their findings indicated that the impacts of instructor gender on student learning differed depending on subject and gender, but the effect sizes were negligible.

According to [14], research on Gender stereotyping in student perceptions of teaching excellence: adopting the changing standards hypothesis. Chi-square tests found that gender had a substantial impact on the distribution and thematic content of submissions. The findings indicated that students were more likely to nominate teachers of the same gender, but that male students were proportionally less likely to nominate a female teacher. Gender biases pervade student perceptions of TE, particularly among male students. These findings suggest that students’ judgments of high-quality instruction are inextricably linked to societal influences.

In [15], the author did a study titled: Does professors’ gender effect how students perceive their teaching and suggestions for the best professor? The study revealed that when undergraduates rated their professors on certain criteria related to teaching performance, they shared their opinions independently of the professors’ gender. When asked for a single overall judgement, such as whether they would suggest the professor as one of their greatest instructors, students favoured male professors over their female classmates by a modest margin.

According to [16], most respondents felt that male lecturers were favoured over females because they improved academic achievement, which is consistent with the study’s findings that ranked male lecturers somewhat higher than female lecturers. However, the majority of respondents believed that a lecturer’s gender did not matter, which was consistent with the reviewed literature. Other factors they said were more essential included course mastery, lecturing style, sincerity of student and interest in course, personality of lecturer, and lectures would be more impactful if class number was reduced. Others agreed that both male and female lecturers were good, and that they each had their strengths; ladies were stricter and more authoritative, while men were more tolerant. Female instructors received mostly unfavorable feedback, with some claiming that they do not assign grades and have a bad impact on students. Others agreed that both genders were good, although male lecturers had a little higher rating. “Both genders are good, but male has a greater favourable impact,” they said. Others believed that the gender of lecturers had an impact on both teaching and learning.

In [17], the author conducted a study on the Influence of Gender and Age of Teachers on Teaching: Students’ Perspective, which revealed that most students did not see gender or age as a barrier in teaching until the teacher was active and interested in teaching, and they believed that experience had a positive influence on teaching. Females, on the other hand, preferred females because they thought it was easier to communicate with them. Many students believed that females are kind, diligent, truthful, and had a high-pitched voice that is audible.

In [18], the author discovered that male secondary school students in the Segamat district aspired to be engineers, businessmen, or entrepreneurs. Female students, on the other hand, preferred careers such as teachers, lecturers, and accountants. As a result, the best male students picked engineering programmes offered by local colleges, while the rest pursued alternative fields such as accounting. The best female students enrolled in university programmes such as accounting in order to become teachers/lecturers or accountants.

5. Methodology

To collect information, a survey method was used. A well-structured questionnaire was created to elicit feedback from the College of arts and commerce students at Andhra University. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed, with 146 duly completed questionnaires returned, resulting in a response rate of 58.4 %. The respondents were asked to select the most appropriate answer from a list of possible answers, and the data was tabulated and analyzed.

6. Results and Analysis

6.1. Gender breakdown of the responses

The table 1 shows that of the 143 responses, 103(72 %) are male, 40(28 %) are female and 0(0%) representing other gender. This demonstrates that male sample is more in Andhra University’s College of Arts and Commerce.

6.2. Status-wise distribution of responses.

Table 2 depicts the distribution of respondents based on their status. According to the table, the majority of respondents, 105 (72.9%), are postgraduate students, followed by 26 (18.1 %) who are PhD students, and the least, 13 (9 %), are undergraduates. The table clearly reveals that postgraduate students make up the vast majority of respondents.

Table 1: Responses gender distribution

Table 2: Status-wise distribution of responses

6.3. Age-wise distribution of responses

Table 3 depicts the distribution of respondents based on their age. According to the table, the majority of respondents are between the ages 20-25, (83(58.5%), followed by those between the ages 25-30, (48 (33.8 %) and the least between the ages 35-40, (11(7.7%). This demonstrates that the majority of students at the College of Arts and Commerce are postgraduates between the ages of 20 and 25.

Table 3: Age-wise distribution of responses

6.4. To Examine the relationship between lecturers’ gender and the perceived difficulty of examination questions.

A question was presented to find out which lecturer gender produces difficult exam questions. According to Table 4, 74 (51.4%) of respondents stated it was mostly male lecturers, 56 (38.9%) said it was a balance of male and female lecturers, and 15 (10.4%) said it was female lecturers.

Table 4: to Examine the relationship between lecturers’ gender and the perceived difficulty of examination questions.

6.5. To assess students’ perceptions of their lecturers’ gender, as well as their teaching approaches and methods

Students were asked a question to determine which lecturer gender teaching styles they liked. According to Table 5, 47 (32.6 %) of respondents chose male lecturers, 34 (23.6 %) preferred female lecturers, and the majority of respondents 63 (43.8 %) preferred both male and female lecturers.

Table 5: to assess students’ perceptions of their lecturers’ gender, as well as their teaching approaches and methods

6.6. To study the relationship between the gender of the student and the gender of the preferred lecturer

Students were asked a question to determine which lecturer gender they prefer. According to Table 6, 54 (37.5%) of respondents chose male lecturers, 27 (18.8%) preferred female lecturers, and the majority of respondents 64 (44.4 %) preferred both male and female lecturers.

Table 6: to study the relationship between the gender of the student and the gender of the preferred

6.7. To examine the approachable nature of the   lecturer based on gender

Students were asked a question to determine which lecturer gender they feel most comfortable approaching. According to Table 7, 40 (27.8%) of respondents chose female lecturers, 49 (34%) preferred male lecturers, and the majority of respondents 55 (38.2%) preferred both male and female lecturers.

Table 7: to examine the connection between lecturer gender and student participation in class

7. Findings

The following are the findings as a result of systematic data gathering and analysis efforts:

A question was presented to find out which lecturer gender produces difficult examination questions. According to Table 4, 74 (51.4%) of respondents stated it was mostly male lecturers, 56 (38.9%) said it was a balance of male and female lecturers, and 15 (10.4%) said it was female lecturers. The findings clearly reveal that male lecturers at Andhra University’s College of Arts and Commerce ask difficult examination questions.

Students were asked a question to determine which lecturer gender teaching styles they liked. According to Table 5, 47 (32.6 %) of respondents chose male lecturers, 34 (23.6 %) preferred female lecturers, and the majority of respondents 63 (43.8 %) preferred both male and female lecturers. The findings clearly show that students preferred the teaching techniques of both male and female lecturers at Andhra University’s College of Arts and Commerce.

Students were asked a question to determine which lecturer gender they prefer. According to Table 6, 54 (37.5%) of respondents chose male lecturers, 27 (18.8%) preferred female lecturers, and the majority of respondents 64 (44.4 %) preferred both male and female lecturers. The facts clearly reveal that students liked both male and female teachers at Andhra University’s College of Arts and Commerce.

Students were asked a question to determine which lecturer gender they feel most comfortable approaching. According to Table 7, 40 (27.8%) of respondents chose female lecturers, 49 (34%) preferred male lecturers, and the majority of respondents 55 (38.2%) preferred both male and female lecturers. The facts clearly show that students at Andhra University’s College of Arts and Commerce felt more comfortable approaching both male and female teachers, followed by male lecturers, and finally female lecturers.

8. Recommendations

Male lecturers should be a little more flexible when it comes to setting exam questions so that students feel less nervous while taking exams.

In order to achieve gender balance in terms of academics, Andhra University should appoint both male and female teaching staff on the basis of merit.

Lecturers should be more approachable and friendly to students so that they can approach them and share their academic concerns.

9. Conclusion

According to the findings, male lecturers at Andhra University’s College of Arts and Commerce undoubtedly pose difficult examination questions. According to the study, students at Andhra University’s College of Arts and Commerce preferred both male and female lecturers’ teaching styles. Furthermore, the findings clearly reveal that both male and female lecturers were well-liked by students. Finally, the findings show that students at Andhra University’s College of Arts and Commerce felt more comfortable approaching both male and female teachers, however male lecturers were slightly more preferred than female counterparts. The majority of respondents responded that the gender of a lecturer made no impact, which was consistent with the reviewed literature. Respondents also believed that other variables that were more essential to them included course expertise, lecturing style, student honesty, and passion for the course, all of which are critical to positively influence students’ success.

Conflict of Interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.

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