Journal of Exclusive Management Science – May 2018 - Vol 7 Issue 05 – ISSN 2277-5684 1 www.jems.net.in The Effects of Gender Role Socialization on Self-Expression of Female Students in Secondary School the Case of Fasil-Dese Mulusew Birhanu Ayalew (lecture, BED in Business Education Emphasis Area of Marketing and Sales Management, MA in Gender and Development Studies) Department of Gender and Development Studies, College of Social Science and the Humanities, University of Gondar Abstract Scholars on gender show that there is a research gap on how gender role socialization are portrayed and has an effect on self-expression of female students in schools. Furthermore, there are no adequate mechanisms to ensure gender equality in secondary schools. Some research reflects the low priority is given to gender and self-expression except for minor initiatives. The wide gap between men and women equality has existed over the years. Women's contributions to the growth of Ethiopia are lower at managerial level. Females are socialized in a way that as they are silent, docile, passive, and inexpensive. So, the objective of this study is to assess the effects of gender role socialization on the self- expression of female students in secondary schools using a mixed research approach by exploratory research design. The study was conducted at Gondar town administration in a public secondary school. The school has 2095 students (1044 female and 951 male students). From these the researcher selects 130 (80 female and 50 male students) using systematic random sampling techniques. Qualitative data were gathered from purposefully selected key informants and the quantitative data also gathered through self-administered questionnaire from the sampled secondary school students. Hence, the data analyzed using qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test using SPSS software. The finding of the study tells gender socialization affect the self-expression of female students negatively and less self- expression has a consequence of maladaptive health effect on female students. The researcher recommends to have the country, gender policy, the school and curriculum at all levels should have a gender lesson to deconstruct the existing gender socialization process and to minimize the gender inequality. Key words- Gender, Socialization, Gender role, Gender socialization, Self-expression 1. Introduction 1.2. Background of the study Socialization is a set of processes by which people will learn the norms, values, attitudes and beliefs of his/her society and people cooperate with others to learn the ways of their values in order to function within it(Omage, N. B., & Nasongo, J. W. 2010). Socialization begins the moment we are born and continues throughout our lives to the very end, as we constantly learn how to successfully belong to new groups or adjust to changes in the groups to which we already belong (Marinova, J. 2003). In looking at gender socialization, we go back to our very beginnings, to the very moment when we were born, since then, and throughout a person‟s life (Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy, 2008). There are many different theories of exactly how gender socialization occurs, each with its own unique perspective on exactly what gender socialization is and how it happens. However, we can devise a universal definition of gender socialization as the process through which individuals determine the gender norms of their club and come to grow an inner gender identity. This definition contains two other terms with which we should also become familiar, gender norms and gender identity. Gender norms are the sets of rules for what is appropriate masculine and feminine behavior in a given culture, whereas the concept of gender identity is therefore consistent with an individual approach to gender, focusing on how gender operates from the inside (gender identity) out (Sagebiel, F., & Vásquez-Cupeiro, S. 2010). Early socialization of kids within the family is especially important in teaching people to act in ways thought appropriate for their gender. As soon as a baby is born people treat it differently and expect it to act differently depending on whether it is a girl or a boy (Omenge and Nasongo, 2010).Sociologists call this socialization as primary socialization. Primary socialization is simply the initial process of learning the ways of a society or group that occurs in infancy and childhood and is transmitted through the primary groups to which we belong (Sagebiel, F., & Vázquez-Cupeiro, S. 2010).Socialization is not limited to childhood, as the process continues with the intervention of other key agents of socialization. General and gender socialization take place through the agents of socialization. These agents of the socialization are the family, school, peer group, mass media and others. It is important for children to make judgments about gender expectations partly by comparing their parents to other people (Ibid). Ideas about socialization also seem to assume that the „lessons‟ about how to be feminine or masculine