Call for Papers

Gender, Education and Social Justice

Linking theories, methods, practices and agendas
Special issue

Manuscripts due: January 6, 2012
 

Editors

Sofia Marques da Silva, University of Porto

Lucie Jarkowska, Masaryk University

Prudencia Gutierrez Esteban, University of Extremadura

 

Discussion of gender inequality in education is not new and has been on the research and political agenda of democratic countries for years; nonetheless equality is still not achieved. As much as formal and non formal education, it is known invisibilization of women at the official curricula, gender stereotypes at text books, girls achievements and boys academic failure at schools, difficulties by women teachers to access to decision posts within school (head team) and training in gender equality in education (coeducation) also new emphases of gender issues are emerging as violence in school, multiple inequalities or intercultural topics.

There are countries with a long history of gender or non-sexist policies in education where the implementation of these strategies have been a bottom-up process initiated by feminist movements (such as United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Scandinavia). There are other countries where questions of gender equality are known mostly as directives from the EU (such as Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland). Also other countries outside Europe, as Australia and Brazil, are very much involved in developing programmes for promoting gender equality and to empower women. In all cases gender equality initiatives have faced criticisms that either they are not needed or they do not work.

To support social change we need to understand how gender is produced and reproduced in different contexts. We also need insightful evaluations of gender equality programmes and to promote the collaboration between researchers and practitioners. This special issue of the journal Educação, Sociedade & Culturas [ESC – Education, Society & Cultures] sets out to analyse and discuss the connection between theory, research methodology and practice in different educational contexts.

 

Both empirical and theoretical contributions are welcome for this special issue. We are particularly interested in articles that address questions such as:

 

1. Gender, concepts and methods

• How is gender conceptualized and operationalized in educational research, especially in schools? What theories do we use? What are their advantages and disadvantages? What kind of epistemological positions do they assume?
• What research methods do educational researchers use to unpack gender?
• What are their advantages and disadvantages?
• Do researchers combine qualitative and quantitative methods to study gender?  How? Why? What are their theoretical perspectives?
• How is the concept of gender equality understood and worked out in the educational field? How are gender equality and equity defined?
• What ethical problems do we face doing educational research on gender?
• What are the implications of multiple inequalities (gender, class, age, ethnicity, religion, sexuality) for educational research and for equality strategies?

 

2. Gender research and educational policies and practices

• What impact do studies on gender and education have for practitioners in different educational settings (lecturers, teachers, social workers, psychologists, educational workers…)?
• What do researchers and practitioners need to know/do to enhance gender equity in education? OR how can gender equity be enhanced by researchers and practitioners? How is this done? What strategies can be endured in order to enhance gender equality in education?
• How can educational policies address gender inequalities? Is there a gap between educational policies and practices in what concern equality of opportunities?
• How do practitioners and young people understand gender and gender relationships? How they “do gender” in different educational settings (formal and non formal) and how do they produce, challenge or resist traditional masculinities and femininities?
• How can we achieve structural changes on gender inequalities in educational contexts?

 

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ESC is a peer reviewed journal published by the Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Educativas [Centre for Research in Education] of the University of Porto, Portugal.

Since 1994, ESC publishes scholarly articles that explore significant ideas, issue, trends, policies and problems in education, and in related disciplines outside the education field, which contribute to the development of education theory and practice.

Although ESC is based in Portugal, we very much welcome contributions that enhance academic debate from anywhere in the world. Articles are accepted and published in Portuguese, English, French or Spanish.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been previously published. The papers are subjected to a ‘blind review’ process. The editors reserve the right to make final decisions about the publication.

Manuscripts should begin with a structured abstract, include up to 5 keywords, and should not exceed 8000 words (for further guidance on submission, see the journal website at http://www.fpce.up.pt/ciie/revistaesc/en/).

Manuscripts should be sent by email attachment (in Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format files) to ciie_edicoes@fpce.up.pt. The deadline for submission is January 6, 2012.