ABSTRACT
The family, church, media and school are all involved in inculcating and perpetuating the dominant values of society. This chapter explores the role of the school in the development and maintenance of gender stereotypes and in particular the way in which sex education has been co-opted into this process. It shows that sex education as it is currently taught, rather than being a radical subject which challenge the status quo, in fact maintains the established order. In recent years there has been increased interest on the part of women in the processes which perpetuate women's inferior status and the particular role of the school in this. The school contributes to the construction of gender formation and maintains sexual inequality; it can therefore be expected that sex education also perpetuates the constructed social inequality of women. Aims for sex education programmes are usually much broader than imparting information, rather they focus on the overall development of the individual.
