Educators’ responses to policy concerns about the gender balance of the teaching profession in Scotland

Concepts of gender equity are changing and the necessity of actively developing a fairer gender balance is now enshrined in the Gender Equality Legislation implemented in 2007 that required public bodies to positively promote equality. This study examines, from the perspectives of educators, their understandings of gendered inequalities in teaching and the issues that they raise for the profession. Overall, respondents did not see the numerical domination of women as a problem but instead they saw the benefits of maintaining the diversity of the teaching profession, since all pupils could benefit from the range of interests and attributes offered by both women and men. Respondents were both embracing and disputing popular discourses about the gender balance in teaching but argued strongly that there should be no discriminatory barriers to the profession. It is concluded that a policy approach to gender equality should address the material and social disadvantage experienced by those working in female‐dominated professions like teaching and this would ensure people would be enabled to exercise gendered preferences without penalties or unfair advantages in income or status.     

俐侎人生育习俗中的社会性别观探析

性别平等是人们关注已久的话题,倡导性别公平不仅应该关注男女两性生理性别上的平等,而且应该关注两性社会性别上的平等。生理性别是先天的,社会性别却是后天的,是文化赋予的。文章通过对俐侎人的生育习俗进行分析,发现"男女有别"、"男尊女卑"的现象从婴儿刚出生就开始体现。当地的生育观和社会性别观是由于文化使然导致的,从而制约了女童的发展。承认差异,关注弱势群体,突破传统文化的枷锁是实现两性平等的必经之路。     

墨子人性论浅析

人性论是关于人性本质的论题,对墨子人性论思想的研究不能囿于对人性善恶的探讨,可从多方面加以观照。墨子的人性论思想主要体现在提倡人人平等、反对天命论、主张尚贤举能、崇尚功利主义等四个方面。     

“Father is out shopping because Mother is at work …” Greek Primary School Reading Texts as an Example of Educational Policy for Gender Equality

This article attempts to evaluate the educational policy for gender equality developed by the Greek Government in the last decade. The example used is that of the new reading books issued in 1983, which the Government presented as solving the problem of sexism apparent in previous readers. The article looks at the views of the academic establishment, women's organisations and teachers with respect to both old and new books and discusses the efficacy of the new books in the light of the results of a textual analysis.     

Beyond stereotypes? Talking about gender in school booktalk

The Swedish educational system states that work in schools should depict and mediate equality. One way of achieving this is through fiction, which according to the syllabus provides students with knowledge about the living conditions of women and men during different epochs and places. The present paper examines gender in a Swedish school, analysing ‘book club’ discussions, using a discursive approach. The data consist of video-recorded teacher-led booktalk sessions, involving small groups of pupils in grades 4–7. It was found that the teachers and/or the pupils invoked gender issues in all book club sessions. The fictive events were, at times, discussed in gender-stereotyped ways. Yet, the teachers and pupils also transcended gender stereotypes in several cases. In many of those cases, there was a generational pattern, in that the participants tended to apply less stereotyped thinking when talking about fictive characters of their own age.     

The different worlds of academia: a horizontal analysis of gender equality in Swedish higher education

Women are underrepresented in advanced positions in higher education in Europe. This study takes a horizontal perspective and focuses on the relationship between gender and discipline in order to combine research on gender in higher education with theories of disciplinary differences in academic cultures. The study points out substantial differences between disciplines in gender composition, specifically, the probability of a person leaving academia after earning a doctor’s degree and various attitudes towards gender equality work. Our approach, which is based on quantitative longitudinal as well as qualitative research methods, has yielded a more complex and contradictory picture of gender equality in higher education than have vertical cross-sectional studies.     

文本与现实中的性别境遇——以治理出生性别比失调宣传倡导征文活动为例

作为治理出生性别比失调的一项公众宣传倡导活动,应具有较强的社会性别敏感性。通过对124篇几乎无法脱离现实的征文文本的社会性别视角分析发现：性别歧视的话题聚焦于受教育差异、家长偏爱、出生性别比失衡等;在反对性别歧视的同时,也含有部分混同性别歧视与性别平等的内容,部分对女性的成见聚焦于四类刻板印象。与征文创作者座谈发现：活动的参与者多为女性,家庭和校园里仍存在男性偏好,对性别平等的未来喜忧参半。治理出生性别比失调的宣传活动,更深远的宣传倡导目标应是：改善教育环境下的性别不平等,改变日常生活重男轻女的情结。     

Shaping a gender equality policy in higher education: which human capabilities matter?

South African institutions still confront gendered inequalities, irrespective of transformative national policies, compounded by the absence of a national gender equality policy for higher education. We therefore explore the potential of the capabilities approach (CA) to inform policy formation and argue for the development of a policy for higher education institutions based on opportunities for valuable functionings as the informational basis for gender equality. Using one university as our case study, data from 38 interviews with female and male students were analysed as part of a longitudinal study on Gender, Empowerment, Agency and Higher Education. The data reveal which opportunities these women and men find important for their personal development and directly and indirectly for gender equality. We conclude by discussing the implications of the data for stimulating public dialogues towards formulating a capabilities-based gender equality policy, as well as reflecting on the broader contributions the CA brings to policy development.     

Gender differences in student performance in large lecture classrooms using personal response systems (‘clickers’) with narrative case studies

This study investigated gender differences in science learning between two pedagogical approaches: traditional lecture and narrative case studies using personal response systems (‘clickers’). Thirteen instructors of introductory biology classes at 12 different institutions across the USA and Canada used two types of pedagogy (Clicker Cases and traditional lecture) to teach eight topic areas. Three different sets of multiple regression analysis were conducted for three separate dependent variables: posttest score, change in score from posttest to final, and transfer score. Interactions between gender and pedagogical approach were found across the three analyses. Women either performed better with Clicker Cases, or about the same with either instructional method, but men performed markedly better with lectures in most topic areas. Our results suggest that men and women experience two pedagogical approaches—Clicker Cases and lectures—differently, and that Clicker Cases are more favorable for women than for men.     

Gender achievement and social,political and economic equality: a European perspective

Differences in gender equality based on social, political and economic factors is cited, by some writers, as a contributory factor in the differentially greater achievement of boys in STEM subjects through the concept of gender stratification. Gender differences, especially in mathematics, have been linked directly to gender parity in wider society. Such a link is predicted by gender stratification via both the gender similarities and gender stratification hypotheses. However analysis by others appearsto support the hypothesis that the gender gap is smaller, in mathematics, when the society has a higher equality index. However, more recently, evidence, based on PISA outcomes from 2000 to 2009, reports that there is little or no correlation between the gender gap and wider equality. This paper takes up this analysis using PISA data from the 2012 round, for both science and mathematics, and the Global Gender Gap Index in a European context. The results cast doubts on any link between national gender equality and achievement in science or mathematics.     

Circles in the sand: challenge and reinforcement of gender stereotypes in a literacy programme in Sudan

Participatory literacy programmes in developing countries are often seen as an important tool for women’s empowerment and equality. This articles problematises the way in which evaluation of progress towards these goals is couched in a linear trajectory, and often fails to uncover the messy reality of women’s negotiations to achieve their own aims. Drawing on an example of a literacy programme for internally displaced people in northern Sudan, the article highlights instances of potential challenge or reinforcement of gender stereotypes and how these were perceived by participants and project staff, situating it within the debate on gender, literacy and empowerment. The examples show that a more nuanced approach to evaluation of progress towards gender equality and empowerment is needed if power relations are to be truly understood and challenged. In addition, appropriate safety mechanisms must be built‐in to projects, acknowledging that women’s ‘empowerment’ may also lead to women in danger.     

合校与分校：美国中学女子教育的公平诉求

美国中学女子教育向来追求教育中的性别公平,女子教育的分校与合校之说自美国教育形成与发展的早期就存在论争,美国教育界对此也进行了广泛研究。本文探析了美国女子分校与合校教育的历史发展、社会背景以及其中的性别公平问题。     

Global inequality,capabilities, social justice: The millennium development goal for gender equality in education

The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for gender equality in education by 2005 has been criticised for its grandiose ambition, its failure to adequately conceptualise the nature of gender inequality or the diverse forms this takes, the inadequate policies developed to put the goal into practice and the limited measurements used for monitoring. The paper argues for a strategic defence of the MDG as an opportunity to think more widely about what the contents of rights in education are and how gender equality might be advanced. Drawing on the capability approach of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum it considers gender equality in education in relation to wellbeing and agency freedom and achievement. Utilising Thomas Pogge's taxonomy of institutional conditions for human flourishing the paper considers how global, national and local policy might better measure gender equality in pursuit of the MDG.     

Scandinavian Approaches to Gender Equality in Academia: A Comparative Study

This study investigates how Denmark, Norway, and Sweden approach issues of gender equality in research differently. Based on a comparative document analysis of gender equality activities in six Scandinavian universities, together with an examination of the legislative and political frameworks surrounding these activities, the article provides new insights into the respective strategies for governing and promoting the advancement of women researchers. In doing so, it exposes some interesting disparities among the cases and shows how Norwegian and Swedish gender equality activities revolve around a broader span of different approaches than the Danish. The study draws upon existing knowledge on the efficacy and implementation success of diversity policy programmes to gain a more profound understanding of implications of these differences.     

Differential access to primary schooling: Can education promote equality in a multi-cultural society?

The concept of equality in education cannot be regarded as universally valid, although education per se is often viewed as potential social equalizer and/or an instrument for boosting economic growth. The present paper summarizes a section of the empirical evidence from a national evaluation educational survey of equality of educational opportunity at primary level in a multicultural society of the developing world-Mauritius.In Mauritius as elsewhere, education is viewed as a panacea for existing social, economic, ethnic and regional inequalities. In the Mauritian survey (Chinapah, 1983), equality of educational opportunity was examined from the standpoints of school participation and scholastic performance of primary school children differing in age, sex, ethnic and socioeconomic characteristics and belonging to four distinct educational settings: Government Rural, Government Urban, Aided Rural, and Aided Urban. The overriding thesis in the survey is the extent to which differential access to primary schooling may promote or hinder equality of educational opportunity in a complex, multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual society like Mauritius.Access to education as viewed from the numbers game, does not guarantee equal treatment in schools. For example, the explosive increases in participation in the 1950s and 60s in the OECD countries, and in the 1970s and 80s in the developing nations, have domonstrated that imbalances between ethnic/racial and socioeconomic strata tend to persist.Evidence from the survey shows that school alone cannot reduce inequalities along sex, ethnic, socioeconomic, and regional lines without a genuine effort to redress the overall problem of social, ethnic, and economic stratification which the school system quite often tends to maintain and reproduce. This paper provides the basis for a discussion of the prospects for and limitations of cross-cultural counselling in education.     

Sexuality and relationships education: toward a social studies approach

Globally, gender norms and power differentials profoundly affect both girls' and boys' sexual attitudes, practices and health. One avenue for enabling young people to reflect on traditional gender arrangements that endanger their health—and to lay the groundwork for satisfying sexual lives—is sexuality and relationships education (SRE). Unfortunately, many SRE programmes address gender norms and critical thinking skills either superficially or not at all. Moreover, in some developing countries, SRE programmes do not reach the majority of girls aged 15–19, a high proportion of whom are simply not in school. This paper argues for grounding SRE within a social studies framework, emphasizing gender and social context. Such an approach can foster critical thinking skills, can provide a foundation for subsequent lessons on explicitly sexual topics, can illuminate the links between gender inequality and other social issues, can allow for a human‐rights emphasis that may prove politically less controversial than technical sexuality topics, and may ultimately prove vital to achieving better sexual health outcomes. The experience of community‐based programmes provides lessons for designing and evaluating such approaches in schools.     

Stepping out of our comfort zones: pre-service teachers' responses to a critical analysis of gender/power relations in sexuality education

This paper discusses pre-service teachers' responses to a critical analysis of gender/power relations using examples from a final assessment for an intensive elective unit called Teaching Sexuality in the Middle Years. This unit critically examines gender/ power relations, the production of difference, heteronormativity and pleasure and desire, employing a feminist post-structural framework. Despite the focus on critical thinking, reflection and interrogating structural inequalities in this unit some students were resistant or unable to engage with this approach in their assessments, although appearing to do so in workshops. We consider the broad range of sexuality education discourses mobilised by this unit to try to make sense of what looks like resistance but may be something more complex and difficult to negotiate. The paper ends with a consideration of some of the implications of this approach for practice.     

Gender issues in action research: implications for adult education

Gender equality is a widely recognized value. Still, on the practical level, it is not easy to achieve true gender equality. Gender has proved to be a complicated issue both for research and practice. Gender change projects trying to make changes in detected disadvantages have repeatedly run into a problem: it is difficult to put gender issues on the agenda and it is difficult to keep them there. With three case examples, this article addresses the question of why it is difficult to approach gender issues in change projects and what conditions make this less difficult. It deals with the potential of action research of making a contribution to gender issues and emphasizes that change projects need a concept of gender which includes the relevant aspects of social structure and social process. In conclusion, the article presents implications for adult education, especially the challenge of developing concepts of empowerment and agency to comply with the postmodern condition and the challenge of creating spaces for interpretation and action.     

‘We are equals’; datum or delusion: perceptions of Muslim women academics in three Malaysian universities

Islam underlines equality between women and men regarding their spiritual and intellectual potential. However, given interpretations of religious texts are often availed to suppress women in most Muslim societies, with serious implications for gender equality in the domestic and the professional spheres. This article draws on data from a study of Muslim women academics from three Malaysian universities to highlight the impact of dominant discourses on these women’s professional lives and their perceptions of gender equality, and discusses its implications for their professional journeys. The article argues that the feudal patriarchal structures of most Muslim societies, reinforced by vested interpretations of religious texts, validate a powerful discourse of male authority which contributes to the perception that submitting to male authority is a Muslim woman’s religious obligation. The seductive power of these discourses couched in religious authority influences the terms of their professional engagement and their conceptualisations and understanding of gender equality.     

Reducing Pseudoscientific and Paranormal Beliefs in University Students Through a Course in Science and Critical Thinking

This study measured the relationship between student’s religion, gender, and propensity for fantasy thinking with the change in belief for paranormal and pseudoscientific subjects following a science and critical thinking course that directly confronted these subjects. Student pre-course endorsement of religious, paranormal, and pseudoscientific beliefs ranged from 21 to 53%, with religion having the highest endorsement rate. Pre-course belief in paranormal and pseudoscientific subjects was correlated with high scores in some fantasy thinking scales and showed a gender and a religion effect with females having an 11.1% higher belief across all paranormal and pseudoscience subcategories. Students’ religion, and frequency of religious service attendance, was also important with agnostic or atheist students having lower beliefs in paranormal and pseudoscience subjects compared to religious students. Students with either low religious service attendance or very high attendance had lower paranormal and pseudoscientific beliefs. Following the critical thinking course, overall beliefs in paranormal and pseudoscientific subcategories lowered 6.8–28.9%, except for superstition, which did not significantly change. Change in belief had both a gender and religion effect with greater reductions among religious students and females.