Occasionally, as part of courses I teach on gender and education, I include a reading by Lois Gould entitled ‘X: A Fabulous Child’s Story’. Written in a fairy-tale style, and first published in 1978, it conveys a fictional story about a child – X – who is part of an ‘Xperiment’ (sic) to see what happens if a child is raised as an X rather than as a girl or a boy.In this Xperiment no-one except the parents (and the experiment organisers) have seen the child’s external genitalia. When asked whether the child is a boy or a girl, the parents reply ‘it’s an X’. Continue reading “The Canadian Baby X”
GEA Lifetime Achievement Award for Professor Tuula Gordon
At the 8th International Gender and Education Association Conference in Exeter this year GEA was delighted to present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Professor Tuula Gordon. Although Tuula was unable to be at the conference to receive the award in person, her friend and colleague Professor Elina Lahelma collected it on Tuula’s behalf. Below, Elina maps out some of Tuula’s many contributions to the field of gender and education. Continue reading “GEA Lifetime Achievement Award for Professor Tuula Gordon”
Conference 2011 Keynote Address: Gender and Education in the Twenty-first Century, Engendering Debate? (Becky Francis)
Becky Francis’ keynote took on the task of exploring the current place of gender in the education system. She reflected on our current place as researchers in gender and education, on the theoretical challenges of our work and on our relationship to practice. Continue reading “Conference 2011 Keynote Address: Gender and Education in the Twenty-first Century, Engendering Debate? (Becky Francis)”
‘Sylvia Pankhurst, Everything is Possible’: New Feature Length Documentary Released
A new feature length documentary chronicling Sylvia Pankhurst’s inspiring life as a suffragette and revolutionary has been released by the London based education charity WORLDwrite. Aspiring young filmmakers worked with industry professionals to research, film and produce this in depth epic which is packed with facts from primary sources, rare images from museums and archives, interviews with historians and a compelling testimony from Sylvia’s son Richard Pankhurst and his wife Rita. Continue reading “‘Sylvia Pankhurst, Everything is Possible’: New Feature Length Documentary Released”
Hair, Beauty and Child Care: Gender and Careers Education for Girls
Whilst working in youth projects over the past decade or so, I have often noticed the predominance of highly gendered career guidance for young people. Too often, when discussing what career options girls were considering, the ‘holy trinity’ of beauty, hair and child care cropped up repeatedly in young women’s visions for their future and their Year 10 work placements. Such options were further cemented in areas such as ‘alternative’ education provision, or vocationally orientated training aimed at ‘NEETS’ (Not in Education, Employment and Training), that seemed to guide working class, young women into courses and apprenticeships in beauty or child care, and their brothers into motor mechanics and bricklaying. Continue reading “Hair, Beauty and Child Care: Gender and Careers Education for Girls”
Who protects the protector? The worrying future of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
The UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has a statutory remit ‘to promote and monitor human rights; and to protect, enforce and promote equality across the nine “protected” grounds – age, disability, gender, race, religion and belief, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, sexual orientation and gender reassignment’. According to the Commission, a survey carried out by it in 2007 showed that discrimination and disadvantage are still common across Britain. So EHRC states: ‘We don’t all have equal chances in life and some forms of discrimination are complex and deep-rooted. Sometimes people choose to ignore the rights of others even when this is against the law. This is why the Equality and Human Rights Commission is here’. Continue reading “Who protects the protector? The worrying future of the Equality and Human Rights Commission”
Libyan Women: Defying the Stereotypes
Whatever position you take on the democracy movements in North Africa and the Middle East, and the West’s reaction to them, it’s been heartening to see so many women involved in the demonstrations appearing daily on our television screens. The stereotypes of Arabs that we have grown up with – of bombers, belly dancers, and billionaires – have been blown to the skies as young men and women have taken to the streets wanting the same things as young people in the West – democratic rights, jobs, a good life. Not too much to ask for! Continue reading “Libyan Women: Defying the Stereotypes”
Influences on Young Children’s Gender Identity: Observational Reflections
Bobbie: I’m Snow White.
(Bobbie has placed a cup on his head to symbolise a tiara and has draped his coat around his shoulders like a cloak)
Bobbie looks delicate, has long, blond hair and is easily mistaken for a girl. I made a mistake as I watched Bobbie and a group of boys and girls playing pirates. Thinking Bobbie was a girl, I was shocked when Terry and David, said: “He‘s always like this” “Bobbie is a girl.” “He’s a sissy.” Bobbie‘s response to me about these comments also left me stunned: “You might think this is strange, but I like girls and I like being a girl.” These brief exchanges and the realisation that Bobbie was a boy made me question my understanding of gender. Why had the boys reacted to Bobbie as they had and why, at such an early age, was their behaviour so stereotypical and Bobbie’s not? Perhaps Terry and David were being ‘normal’. Continue reading “Influences on Young Children’s Gender Identity: Observational Reflections”