Assessed most often from the angle of access to primary and/or secondary schooling, the inequalities between girls and boys in African schools have been the subject of much research since the 1970s. More than a distinction between girls and boys, this article proposes a gender-based reading of the daily lives of children in two primary schools in Cotonou. Based on observations and interviews with teachers, it shows how behaviours such as entering the classroom, placing children on benches, interactions between pupils and teachers and the distribution of tasks, are governed by representations made by teachers regarding the qualities and attributes of girls versus boys. It thus appears that schools are not places of change, but rather spaces which maintains those gender norms in force found outside in surrounding society.