Despite over thirty years of activism and legislation to eliminate discrimination, parity has yet to be achieved for women in academe. This book describes policy discourse analysis as a framework for considering how those involved in policy-making efforts may make use of discourses that inadvertently undermine the intended effect of the policies they set forth. Allan illustrates the methods of policy discourse analysis by describing their use in a study of twenty-one women's commission reports. In so doing, she highlights the important work of university women's commissions while uncovering policy silences and making visible the powerful discourses framing gender equity policy initiatives in higher education. Her findings reveals how dominant discourses of femininity, access, professionalism, race, and sexuality contribute to constructing women's status in complex and at times, contradictory ways. This important volume will interest researchers across a number of disciplines including policy studies, educational leadership, higher education and cultural studies of education.

Describes policy discourse analysis as a framework for considering how those involved in policy-making efforts may make use of discourses that inadvertently undermine the intended effect of policies they set forth. This book illustrates the methods of policy discourse analysis by describing their use in a study of 21 women's commission reports.

Using primary evidence such as official documents, newspapers and memoirs, Paul Bailey analyzes the significance, impact and nature of women's public education in China from its beginnings at the turn of the twentieth century.

Providing an international perspective on education policy, and of the role and function of education in the global economy, this text covers the major topics of central significance in education and the sociology of education.

This volume provides a critical examination of the status of women and gender in higher education today. Despite the increasing numbers of women in higher education, gendered structures continue to hinder women’s advancement in academia. This book goes beyond the numbers to examine the issues facing those members of academia with non-dominant gender identities. The authors analyze higher education structures from a range of perspectives and offer recommendations at individual and institutional levels to encourage activism and advance equality in academia.

Provides researchers and practitioners with a baseline upon which to develop research or enhance an understanding of ways of conceptualising and challenging bullying related to gender, sexuality, and transgender status.

This book presents ideas on education, gender and intersectionality through a transdisciplinary frame by crossing disciplinary and methodological borders. Exploring the diversity of educational settings ranging from early childhood to adult education, it brings together scholars from various disciplines to discuss, deconstruct and problematize gender and education in relation to several themes in a comparative, intersectional, local, national, regional and international perspective. Each chapter approaches the topic in an intersectional and/or transnational manner and creates powerful gendered educational knowledge. Questions addressed in the book include: What are the challenges or barriers to gender-equal education? How can we understand the gaps between formal policies and educational practices? The chapters in the book illustrate how gender and education are relevant and needed concepts within the field of transdisciplinary research. The authors hail from a range of countries, such as Croatia, Indonesia, Turkey, UK, as well as the Nordic region, and they critically examine gender and education at all levels and in diverse sectors, and with varied lenses, such as neoliberalism in education, and the inclusion of newcomers and refugees. The work also critically investigates programs and pedagogical approaches, culture and values, knowledge and identity in teacher education. The book further addresses criticisms of Western and Anglophone bias around “white feminism” and the norm of white, male and heterosexual privilege.

Internationally, there is growing awareness that the target of Education for All by 2015 will not be met unless more strident efforts are made to improve access for marginalized, hard-to-reach children (most often girls). For almost four decades gender equality in education has been one of the key global concerns and as a result various organizations at national and international levels along with governments have initiated programs focusing on achieving gender equality, women’s empowerment and improving girls’ access to education. By focusing on access alone (i.e. gender parity) we may not understand how education can be used to achieve empowerment and influence cultural practices that are gender insensitive. In this volume we attempt to call into question the content of gender equality as simple parity and in doing so we reflect upon the following questions: • Do the global (macro) discourses on gender equality in education lead to a focus on numbers only or to more profound sustainable changes at the national (meso) level and the school (micro) level? • To what extent have national policies been adjusted to reflect the global discourses on gender equality? • Are schools/classrooms (micro) expected to adjust to these global discourses and if so in what ways has this happened? • What are the challenges of providing access to good quality education for girls in both countries? • Is there a dichotomy between the schools/classrooms on the one hand and the community on the other in terms of gender equality/equity? • To what extent is gender equality/equity imposed upon schools and communities and does it take into account the cultural practices in traditional communities? Key words: Gender equality, education, Global vs. local concerns 3 selling points: • The volume highlights that although research has shown how global educational policies homogenize national educational policies and are therefore playing what can be termed a neo-colonial role in identifying pivotal themes and topics in education across the world such as gender equality, literacy and quality education in local contexts, they are often steeped in a Western logic which is not always culturally relevant or conducive. Making global recommendations for education across cultures and places is thus not always unproblematic. • The volume highlights that a push for girls’ schooling must navigate wisely in sensitive terrain where complex contextual aspects must be understood and taken into account. Girls’ attendance and retention in school are important first steps in the struggle for epistemic access, but must be followed by serious deliberations about what kind of school and what kind of knowledge in the schools is appropriate, and about equality and equity. • The volume attempts to understand how the global gender goals in education affect both local policies and local practice and in doing so it attempts to question the simple focus on access only.

Encyclopedic review about gender and its impact on American higher education across historical and cultural contexts. The contributors describe the ways in which gender is embedded in the educational practices, curriculum, institutional structures and governance of colleges and universities. Topics included are: institutional diversity; academic majors and programs; extracurricular organizations such as sororities, fraternities and women's centers; affirmative action and other higher educational policies; and theories that have been used to analyze and explain the ways in which gender in academe is constructed.

"For the third time in three decades world leaders reaffirmed their promise of "Education For All" when adopting Sustainable Development Goal 4 in 2015. It is the most far-reaching commitment to quality and equity in education so far, yet, there is no consensus on what the agenda means in practice. With a decade left until the 2030 deadline, Grading Goal Four calls upon the education community to engage more thoughtfully and critically with SDG 4 and related efforts. As an ever-growing number of actors and initiatives claim to contribute to its achievement, it is becoming clear that the ambitious but broad priorities within the goal are vulnerable to cherry-picking and misrepresentation, placing it at the heart of tensions between instrumentalist and rights-based approaches to education. This text, a critical analysis of SDG 4, provides a framework for examining trends and developments in education globally. As the first volume that examines early implementation efforts under SDG 4, Grading Goal Four formulates a critique along with strategies for moving forward. By scrutinising the challenges, tensions and power dynamics shaping SDG 4, it advances rights-based perspectives and strategies for effective implementation and builds capacity for strengthened monitoring and analysis of the goal"--