33. Gender and Education
Paper
Examples from an anthology: Gender and Education in Politics, Policy and Practice - Transdisciplinary Perspectives through diversity
Brynja Halldórsdóttir1, Marie Carlson2
1University of Iceland, Iceland; 2University of Gotenburg, Sweden
Presenting Author: Halldórsdóttir, Brynja
Recent global developments have shown how important issues regarding gender are as we focus of the effects of various social justice movement related to gender, gender identity and diversity and are indeed evidenced in the precarity of the modern times. In this presentation we disucss the importance of gender as a transdiciplinary tool in education, both as a pedagogical tool and as well as within our research. Crossing disciplinary and methodological boundaries, and thus creating a transdisciplinary framework, the paper springs from our recent publication of Gender and Education Politics, Policy and Practice: Transdisciplinary Perspectives (2021, Carlson et al.). This book uses intersectional and transnational lenses to explore education in diverse contexts using empirical examples taken from Croatia, Indonesia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Turkey, the UK and the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). For our talk we will frame the various conceptions of gender in educational contexts to explore the use of gender and intersectionality in educational research at various educational levels and contexts, from formal and informal contexts, and ranging from early childhood to adult education. While transdisciplinary research is not a new concept in academia, such discussion is less common in educational research, perhaps because both educational research and gender theory are by nature transdiciplinary. While these two fields are interdisciplary, our paper and the book work to combine the two fields and cross disciplinary boundaries in order to bring awareness to the importance of understanding education as a multilayed and multifaceted field where intersectional discussions of education can be constituted as transdiciplinary and as important in addressing pressing issues of a percarious nature in education. Gender studies in education require an interrogation of power relations, politics and policy in institutions and educational contexts, both formal and informal.
They also deconstruct the social, economic and cultural processes implicit and explicit in local, regional, national and global structures. These processes include the racialization, ethnicization, and class-based divisions included in gender studies and allow research to highlight how and why it is necessary to understand them as intersecting forces, rather than separate and discrete. Using the overarching themes include in this book we focus on a critical discussion of policy, practice, cooperation by looking at such issuses as action/agency; increased emphasis on theorization and neoliberalism and exploring issues of dualisms and the Anglophone and Western bias (Mohanty, 2003; Phoenix, 2009). In line with Woodard and Woodard (2015), we want really to emphasize that through an interdisciplinary approach, critiques and analysis of the connections between the political and personal can be interrogated, understood and engaged with and what the implictions for education in a broad sense can be.
Our understanding of gender is multifaceted and often contested. It is through a deeper exploration of what gender is as a concept that we develop and engage in new ways of thinking about the relationship between “sex, gender and sexuality”. This relationship is then seen in conjunction with concepts of social class, immigrant rights, belonging and citizenship, education, educational aspirations and attainment, and the historical developments of gender research. In research, gender has been used as both an empirical category and a theoretical conceptualization. Its goal has been to develop greater understandings of social, cultural and educational relations and divisions. We find that engagement in dialogue across different subjects in the field of education as Chiapello and Fairclough (2002) noted: “A transdisciplinary approach asks how a dialogue between two [or more] disciplines or frameworks may lead to a development of both through a progress of each internally appropriating the logic of the other as a resource for its own development” (p. 4).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedWhen researchers and educators develop a focus on gender they often find “different and innovative methodologies as well as a plurality of theoretical approaches, which are directed at making sense of inequalities and at celebrating the experiences and contributions of hitherto marginalized groups” (Woodward & Woodward, 2015, p. 4). Policies and practices are impacted by time and contexts (whether they are local, regional, national, or international). While there are similarities in the lived experience of gender relations around the world, there are also significant differences (hooks, 2000; Mohanty, 2003; Yuval-Davis, 2011). All the differing and intersecting views, theories and research methods make gender research both inter- and transdisciplinary.
Gender studies developed out of feminist and women’s studies through the intention of researchers, activists and educators to address issues concerning the intersectional aspects of international politics. Here cultural, economic, political, and social inequalities are played out in everyday life and at the global level (cf. Öhrn & Weiner, 2017). They have also been influenced by diverse academic traditions such as Marxism, socialism, radical strands of the women’s movement, black feminism, ethnicization, racialization, issues of bodies and corporeality, disability, sexuality, class and geographically located inequalities, and critical studies of masculinity. Gender studies and their development have important political and educational implications (Bacchi, 2010). It is precisely this blurring of boundaries that transdisciplinary research is about. They also deconstruct the social, economic and cultural processes implicit and explicit in local, regional, national and global structures. These processes include the racialization, ethnicization, and class-based divisions included in gender studies and allow research to highlight how and why it is necessary to understand them as intersecting forces, rather than separate and discrete.
Exploring the diversity of educational settings in an international context, from the formal to the informal, and ranging from early childhood to adult education, the chapters in this book illustrates how gender and education are relevant and needed concepts in the field of transdisciplinary research. These include e.g. paying attention to neoliberalism in education, the inclusion of newcomers and refugees in education systems related to culture and values, and barriers to the global academy (e.g. Gollifer & Halldórsdóttir, 2020). Most centrally, gender studies in education require an interrogation of power relations, politics and policy in institutions and educational contexts, both formal and informal. We have sought to integrate education, gender, and intersectionality through a transdisciplinary framework and by crossing disciplinary and methodological borders.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThrough the discussion of diverse theoretical frameworks and populations, the anthology explores barriers and gaps and our forthcoming article, neoliberalism and social justice concerns as ways to broaden the scope of gender and education research. The use of such critical lenses which inform this collection we believe will help facilitate a discussion with the aim of developing powerful gendered educational knowledge and strong attempts towards societal transformation. Through the various studies we will present in this anthology and our forthcoming article; we seek to open a dialogue in the session on ways to develop transdisciplinary research on gender and education. As we understand it, “trans-disciplinary work moves beyond the bridging of divides in academia to engaging directly with the production and use of knowledge outside of the academy” (Toomey, Markusson, Adams, & Brockett, 2015, p. 1).
Through the discussion of theoretical frameworks and populations explores barriers and gaps, neoliberalism and social justice concerns as ways to broaden the scope of gender and education research. The use of such critical lenses which inform this collection we believe will help facilitate a discussion with the aim of developing powerful gendered educational knowledge and strong attempts towards societal transformation.
Gender and education have long been understood as being concerned with issues of equality and justice. We are asking ourselves and our colleagues in this discussion to pay special attention to “troubled” zones in the field with attention to teacher education, policy and practice and social activism. In Western societies, two key understandings of gender have dominated research and discourse: socialization and ‘gender role’ models. However, criticism has been put forward against the universalist ideas that “white feminists” speak for all women and that an undefined and silent norm (white, male, heterosexual) (Ahmed, 2012; Hill Collins & Bilge, 2016; Stromqvist & Monkman, 2014).
ReferencesAhmed, S. (2012). On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life. Duke University Press.
Bacchi, C. (2010). Gender mainstreaming, affirmative action and diversity: Politics and meaning in gender equality policies. GSPR 2010 Vol.3. https://www.kdevelopedia.org/Resources/all/gender-mainstreaming-affirmative-action-diversity-politics-meaning-gender-equality-policies--04201203140098189.do?fldIds=TP_SOC%7CTP_SOC_GD
Carlson, M. et al. (eds.) (2021) Gender and Education in Politics, Policy and Practice,
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Chiapello, E., & Fairclough, N. (2002). Understanding the new management ideology: A transdisciplinary contribution from critical discourse analysis and new sociology of capitalism. Discourse & Society, 13(2).
Gollifer, S. E., & Halldórsdóttir, B. E. (2020). Conservative Conceptualisations and Neglected Cross-cultural Experiences—Internationalisation at the University of Iceland. Internationalisation of Higher Education, 1. https://www.handbook-internationalisation.com/en/handbuch/gliederung/#/Beitragsdetailansicht/191/2868/Conservative-Conceptualisations-and-Neglected-Cross-cultural-Experiences---Internationalisation-at-the-University-of-Iceland
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Öhrn, E. & Weiner, G. (2017). Gender, Justice, and Equity in Education. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. In G Noblit (Ed.) Oxford research encyclopedia of education. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.131
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