This essay seeks to broaden theoretical paradigms commonly used in the social sciences to analyze representations of gender, especially girlhood, in children's literature. In particular, this project seeks to add to liberal feminist frameworks for conceptualizing textual representations of gender and sexuality in literacy studies. Liberal…

This paper discusses findings from a study funded by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (NI) to explore the promotion of gender equity in the classroom and the extent to which initial teacher training and in-service courses address gender issues. Data from a questionnaire survey of 344 teachers and the qualitative dimensions of the study…

This Symposium integrates quantitative and qualitative information to assess the representation of women in academic geography in The Netherlands, Catalonia, Hungary and Singapore. It offers comparative commentary on the situation in the United States and additionally a focus on the experiences of a group of women geographers of colour in Canada,…

In the Southern Africa region, the act of prejudice against women mostly occurs where patriarchal power reigns. This type of power is felt in areas such as inheritance right, division of labour, access to political and economic resources and legal and social matters. Other areas of discrimination against women include access to educational and…

Social scripting theory points to the fact that much of sexual behavior seems to follow a script. Similar to scripts that stage actors use to guide their behavior, social scripts instruct members of a society as to appropriate behavior and the meanings to attach to certain behaviors. In Western cultures, scripts for sexual activity are markedly…

In reality, gender bias is very much an issue for both boys and girls. However, it is difficult to detect because it affects girls and boys in different ways. In school, it is the boys who may be expected to "act out" and rebel at school work, while the girls are expected to be docile, conforming, and willing to work hard. In this article, the…

Much of the debate about the desirability or otherwise, of attempting to address the gender imbalance in the early childhood teaching profession has been limited by a reliance on rhetoric rather than empirical evidence. The purpose of this article is to assist in shifting this debate to a more empirical basis by reporting findings from an…

This paper examines women's experience of fear of crime in rural areas. It argues that much existing research on issues of gender, fear and safety have focused on urban areas and that as a result we know relatively little about women's experience of fear in a rural context. As well as arguing that we need to redress the balance and respond to the…

Recent studies of second language learning and language contact in bilingual and multilingual communities have been informed by feminist poststructuralist approaches to the study of language, gender, and identity (Cameron, 1997; Cameron, Frazer, Harvey, Rampton, & Richardson, 1992; Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 1992; Erhlich, 1997; Norton, 2000;…

People committed to a sociopolitical ideology have different skills they can offer to a social movement designed to bring about social change. In this paper, Janet Chafetz contends that feminist social and behavioral scientists can maximize their movement contributions by doing excellent social science on gender issues; that is their unique…

A recurrent theme in scholarship on gender and the family is the asymmetry between husbands and wives on decision making, the division of household labor, child care, and so forth. In this article, the authors tested to see if this asymmetry can be explained, in part, by taking into account the invisible power of men. Using data from the third…

This paper connects research on the sociology of gender and work to that concerning the performance of gender in school to distill salient differences between the individualist and the interactionist perspectives. The interactionist perspective is shown to clarify processes by which gender-based inequality is rendered seemingly natural. The…

Presents an analysis of Mary Wilkins Freeman's "The Revolt of 'Mother,'" focusing on the gendered nature of language. Asserts that the author's empowering discourse and speaking voice, within the male dominated literary arena, is an act of language appropriation, and that students who participate in the analysis of discourse can also be empowered.…

Argues research lacks consideration of the value and impact involving signed and unsigned instructor evaluation responses from students. Describes a midwestern Canadian study of the subject. Finds signing protocol leads to higher instructor scores and that female instructors scored higher than male counterparts. (KDR)

Reviews the current place of reproduction theory within larger debates about gender in education. Focuses on the issue of what limits feminist reproduction theory in the study of gender inequality in schools. Argues that gender theories may fail because they sometimes emerge as political and sensational rather than public and ethical. (CAJ)