Re/presenting intellectual subjectivity: gender and visual imagery in the field of higher education

Visual images of students and academics in the UK have traditionally featured men, reflecting the historical predominance of men in these positions. When women were represented, sexist imagery and traditional constructions of femininity were not uncommon. This article explores the ways in which students and academics are constructed in a selection of visual representations in two contemporary UK sources: in two videos aimed at potential students and in the Times Higher Education, a magazine for higher education professionals. Following a discussion of dominant constructions of intellectual subjectivity, I draw upon a feminist post-structuralist approach in the analysis of these visual images. Although women are now entering universities in greater numbers than ever before, I suggest that this visual iconography continues to inscribe culturally dominant constructions of femininity and masculinity, reaffirms a gender binary and reconstructs the serious intellectual subject as a masculine one.     

Gender inclusion and horizontal gender segregation: stakeholders' strategies and dilemmas in Swedish teachers' education

This paper contributes to our knowledge of teacher educators' strategies for, and dilemmas with, working with gender inclusion in teachers' education. It illustrates how gender is constructed and reconstructed in teachers' education. The study revealed that teachers' education is not only – as earlier described – a highly feminised field, it is also a discipline that is permeated by horizontal and vertical segregation typical of higher education. The study analyses how university teacher educators experience and handle consequences of this horizontal segregation, building on interviews with subject representatives at a Swedish university. The results exemplify how university teachers reflect on gender policies and their own roles when working with teacher students. Heteronormative patterns also become visible in strategies meant to facilitate gender equality and desegregation. The author argues for the need to include university teachers' perspectives in future strategies for developing gender inclusion in university education.     

Aspirations and equality in higher education: gender in a South African university

This paper considers ways to theorise aspirations in terms of capabilities and agency to function as human beings, as well as our resources to act and participate in this world using a South African case of women students’ aspirations. In this analysis higher education should foster women’s freedom as critical agents to make genuine choices about their lives and futures, including being able to engage critically with gender norms. The paper thus explores critical agency, together with aspirations – the goals one wants to reach in the future – that indicate which capabilities are valued and which could unlock critical agency. However, the paper also considers the ambiguities generated by the persistence of gender norms and the way these may work in higher education cultures to constrain what women have reason to value and hence their capabilities and achievements.     

高等教育大众化对性别公平的效应研究

本文通过中国高等教育大众化进程中高等教育入学机会性别公平的实证研究,得出如下结论:高等教育大众化促进了性别公平.在总量上男女两性高等教育入学机会已经达到公平.本科层次的两性入学机会差异在逐步缩小,专科层次已达到公平.在研究生层次上男女性入学机会的非公平仍然存在,但在高等教育大众化进程中呈倒U字形曲线,在高等教育大众化初期男女性机会差异不断扩大,随着高等教育大众化的深入又转向逐渐缩小的趋势.在学科层次方面,人文经管类女性高等教育入学机会远远超过男性,理工类男女两性高等教育不公平仍然比较突出,所以发展文科有利于促进高等教育机会的性别公平.     

Sex doesn't matter: the role of gender in the formation of student-university relationships

As competition intensifies, higher education providers are facing ever more complex challenges in attracting and retaining students. These new marketing challenges have necessitated a need to more comprehensively understand the factors that lead to positive perceptions of the institutions services, as well as positive referral of the brand. This research focuses on students' perceptions of the importance of satisfaction, trust, and commitment in the development of student loyalty. In particular this research examines whether or not these antecedents differ for male versus female students. A structural equation modelling approach was adopted using a sample of 447 students. Despite literature which characterises males as task oriented, and females as relationship oriented, gender did not influence the salience of the antecedents to loyalty. These results show that first and foremost both gender groups seek to form affective and emotional bonds with their institution and hence a sense of psychological closeness to it. Student satisfaction was found to be the second most important driver of loyalty across both genders. Conclusions, implications and opportunities for future research are presented. From a managerial perspective, it is expected that uncovering the importance of key relationship marketing constructs between genders will enable higher education institutions to develop more targeted relationship marketing programs.     

论高等教育中学科专业的性别隔离

学术界关于高等教育中学科专业的性别隔离主要有两种解释:一是生物本质主义的解释,它主要以两性的生理差异和心理差异为认识基础来阐释学科专业中的性别差异;二是女性主义的解释,它认为,学科的性别隔离是社会意识形态、权力系统和利益基础在学科领域的表现,是社会文化建构的结果。女性主义的阐释为解决这一问题提供了新的思路和策略。     

高等教育需求及专业选择中的性别差异及其影响因素分析

本文应用对我国三省一市90所中学10909名高中毕业班学生的调查数据,探讨了高中生高等教育需求及专业选择中的性别差异状况及其影响因素。研究发现:我国高中生高等教育需求的性别差异已不大,但专业选择中的性别隔离现象比较严重。我国家庭存在的男孩偏好倾向、家庭教育期望的代际传递模式、家庭资源的不充裕等因素是造成高等教育需求中性别差异的重要原因,而性别刻板印象、家庭收入水平、家庭教育期望等因素对专业选择中的性别差异具有重要影响。     

Mediating gendered performances: young people negotiating embodiment in research discussions

Gender inequalities in schools have implications for life chances, emotional well-being and educational policies and practices, but are apparently resistant to change. This paper employs Judith Butler’s conceptualisation of performativity in a study of young people and consumption to provide insights into gendered inequities. It argues that how the young people ‘do’ gender in focus groups frequently involves the discussion of young women’s bodies and clothes in ways that are ‘culturally intelligible’. The focus on young women’s bodies produced joking relationships and a taken-for-granted understanding of gender in some same-sex interactions, but sometimes created tension and divisions in mixed-gender groups. Discussions of sexualisation in single-sex and mixed-sex groups were similarly emotionally loaded. The paper argues that attention to gender inequalities requires detailed attention to the differential power relations in which boys express desires to control feminine bodies and girls police their own and other girls’ bodies. Methodologically, the paper suggests that focus group discussions constitute an ethnographic site for analysis and that researchers co-construct young people’s narratives of embodied gender practices in ways that mediate young people’s gendered performances.     

Cultural capital and gender differences in parental involvement in children's schooling and higher education choice in China

This article employs the concept of cultural capital to examine the ways in which social difference in terms of gender are played out in parental involvement in children's schooling and higher education choice. The intention has been to provide an in-depth analysis of the ways in which Chinese mothers and fathers are involved in the process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 47 secondary school students and 50 parents in Beijing. This article reveals that the transmission of cultural capital is gendered. Mothers have a different and more direct relationship to the generation of cultural capital than fathers. This article reveals that patriarchal relationships are common among Chinese families, with fathers having a controlling role and mothers having a servicing one. I suggest that the traditional cultural norms, such as that based on Confucian patriarchy, have had influences on gender relationships in the transmission of cultural capital to children's educational achievement.     

Playing the game: critical literacy,gender justice and issues of masculinity

This paper explores issues of critical literacy, gender justice and masculinity through ‘Mr A’s’ story. Mr A is head of English at ‘Grange College’ – an all boys’ school in a large urban centre in Queensland (Australia). The paper highlights how the privileging of rationality, control and ‘the masculine’ within Mr A’s ‘teaching‐as‐usual’ discourse constrains his efforts to pursue gender justice through critical literacy. While Mr A scaffolds his students’ critical analysis of gender and power in texts, his investments in teacher/student binary relations draw rigid boundaries between himself and his students in ways that delegitimise the terrain beyond the rational and ignore a theorising of the self. Drawing on Mr A’s story within Davies’ theorising about the possibilities of critical literacy, this paper adds to key work in arguing the importance of teachers’ interrogating their classrooms as lived texts where the relations of domination and power that derail the social justice possibilities of critical literacy can be made both recognisable and revisable. Such interrogation is foregrounded here as particularly urgent within the current moment where rationalist discourses within and beyond schools are increasingly working to circumscribe and constrain teacher practice in ways that stifle transformative social agendas.     

The past in the present: historicising contemporary debates about gender and education

History is often embedded, explicitly or implicitly, in discourses on contemporary aspects of gender and education, but relatively few scholars engage critically with history as they grapple with current issues. This article posits ‘historical sensibility’ as a means of engaging constructively with the past when scrutinising and working on current issues in gender and education. Four features of historical sensibility are mapped out and compared with established ways of approaching the relationship between the present and past. The utility of historical sensibility is demonstrated with reference to ongoing debates about the feminisation of schooling, the sexualisation of children and the leisure pursuits of young women.     

90后高职学生人格特征性别差异分析与教育对策研究

采用16PF人格问卷对河北省部分高职院校14级90后新生进行调查,并进行文理科男女生对比分析,数据结果显示:在全部人格因素得分指标当中理科女生各项得分均在中段水平及以上,呈现出"自high"的外显人格特征。理科男生除成长能力因素低于平均分,其余均处于中段水平及以上,整体呈现出女性化的性格特质。文科男生和文科女生比较各项指标基本均衡,性别角度上的人格特征差异不明显,心理健康因素、专业成就因素和成长能力因素都在平均分一下。针对这种状况,应采取因材施教有侧重的生涯教育课程引导,并加强性别特征教育。整体增加人文精神、人性文化和共情能力的培养。     

Dissonant futures: occupational trajectories,gender and class in contemporary municipal adult education in Sweden

The aim of this article is to problematize the ways class and gender are played out in adult students’ narratives about their occupational choice and future. Drawing on Beverly Skeggs, we analyse how students think about future occupations, what motivates them towards these and how they are able to form their future in relation to them. Taking on Sweden as a case, our results show that students’ narratives on their future occupations are classed as well as gendered. In their vision of future occupations, working-class students tend to focus on occupations helping and caring for others, while middle-class students tend to focus on work more as a means of fulfilling themselves as individuals. These differences are also gendered. Female students are more likely than their male counterparts to picture their future occupations in relation to having children and a family. This tells us that in the female students’ narratives, there tends to be a strong focus on caring – for their families as well as in future occupations.     

Global norms and local politics: uses and abuses of education gender quotas in Tajikistan

In Central Asia, the post‐Soviet transformation period has been accompanied by significant economic and social costs, including the widening of the gender gaps in politics, economy and the social sphere. Tajikistan, which receives the largest amount of international aid and has the worst record of gender inequity in Central Asia, has quickly responded to the worsening situation by introducing quotas favoring female representation in politics, labor market and education. This article examines the context within which international gender equity norms were introduced in the 1990s as well as the factors that account for the variation in implementation of these policies. By using the case study of Tajikistan, this article suggests that the introduction of policies favoring female participation in political, economic and social life has largely depended on the transfer of international discourses on gender equality, while their implementation has been halted by historical legacies, economic realities and local political factors.     

Teaching gender and sexuality diversity in foundations of education courses in the US

This article is a summary of comprehensive units on gender and sexuality diversity that the authors have used in teacher education courses in undergraduate and graduate social foundations of education classes over several years. The course lesson plan includes a five‐part analysis of the following categories: biological sex; gender identity/sexual identity; gender roles; sexual behavior; and sexual orientation. The authors have experienced much success and positive student evaluation by using this approach. This is true even in religiously and politically conservative universities. The authors introduce the complexity of biology, gender roles, and gender identity, before addressing human sexuality. This helps to diffuse many stereotypes and misconceptions in the initial lessons.     

论性别差异及其教育策略

性别差异指男女两性在心理学方面的不同特点。男女两性不仅存在着生理方面的差异,在心理发展的许多方面也同样客观地存在着一些差异,尤其在性格和行为方式及情感表达等方面差异较为明显。性别差异的形成在更大程度上取决于社会文化因素而非生理因素,必须采取有效的教育措施,使个体的发展既具有男女之共性,也具有男女之个性;既要摆脱性别角色标志的束缚,又不失性别本色。     

Executive power and scaled-up gender subtexts in Australian entrepreneurial universities

Deputy Vice Chancellor and Pro Vice Chancellor positions have proliferated in response to the global, corporatised university landscape [Scott, G., S. Bell, H. Coates, and L. Grebennikov. 2010. “Australian Higher Education Leaders in Times of Change: The Role of Pro Vice Chancellor and Deputy Vice Chancellor.” Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 32 (4): 401–418]. Senior leadership is the sphere where academic and management identities are negotiated and values around the role of the university are decided. This paper examines the changing and gendered nature of the senior leadership setting and its implications for diversity in and of university leadership. The analysis draws from a three-year empirical study funded by the Australian Research Council on leadership in Australian universities. It focuses on executive leaders in three universities – one which is research-intensive, the second, in a regional site, and the third, university of technology. The article argues that the university landscape and its management systems are being restructured in gendered ways. It utilises the notion of organisational gender subtexts to make explicit how gender works through structural and cultural reform.     

中国基础教育性别公平存在的问题和对策

性别公平是当今国际世界基础教育研究中的一项重要任务，本文首先介绍了20世纪90年代中国基础教育在实现性别公平方面取得的成就，然后指出了中国基础教育中仍然存在性别不公平的一些问题，最后探讨了21世纪前15年中国基础教育全面实现性别公平应该采取的政策措施。     

Teachers' care in higher education: contesting gendered constructions

There is little research on care in higher education, and yet for many of those who teach in higher education institutions, care is an important part of their work. Care in the compulsory education sector has traditionally been linked to the feminine, and this paper considers whether this is also the case in higher education. It investigates how care is conceptualised and gendered in the literature and in narratives of teaching staff from New Zealand universities. It finds that there is much more to care than traditional models offer, and shows how this complexity of care challenges gendered stereotypes. It concludes that a broader understanding of care can help break the link to the feminine and acknowledge the value of care in higher education and beyond.     

Initiating self-assessment strategies in novice physiotherapy students: a method case study

Student self- and peer-assessment strategies ideally are instigated early in programmes for health professionals. This study presents an innovative method of stimulating critical evaluation of clinical skills learned in the practical class setting for first year physiotherapy students. Twice in the semester (beginning and end) students assessed mock clinical demonstrations using examples of two widely discrepant approaches to evaluation of clinical skills: (1) a detailed analytical rubric of listed criteria and (2) a broad holistic, competency-based proforma. Anonymously, 67 students rated the usefulness of the activity to learning. They provided estimates of individual self-efficacy to make fair and reliable judgements in grading the demonstrations using the rubric and proforma and contemporaneous levels of personal stress with the perceived stress scale_10. Students reported that the activities aided their learning of course work on both occasions. By the end of semester the change in students’ self-efficacy to grade the demonstrations with the proforma was significantly greater than that for the rubric. The changes flag a deep understanding of the analytic and holistic methods used by class examiners and future clinical educators. Practical experience with assessing clinical performances enhanced student familiarity with the practical assessment and was associated with a reduction in pre-examination personal stress levels.