‘Gendered Citizenry’: new feminist perspectives on education and citizenship

Abstract

This paper describes the recent development of feminist analyses of the role of education in creating ‘inclusive’ democratic citizenship. Four discrete feminist perspectives on citizenship are outlined: a theoretical critique of citizenship as a modern male narrative; a socio‐historical perspective on women's struggle for equal citizenship through education; deconstruction of the discourses of citizenship used by contemporary teachers and their gendered dimensions; and an emerging educational perspective on the gender principles which should affect education for citizenship in democratic societies. These four perspectives on citizenship offer opportunities to reflect critically on the past and continuing struggle of women for equality. They suggest, too, the complex issues which now face any programme of education for citizenship for the next century. More than one masculinised democratic discourse, it seems, would need to be transformed for women to achieve full political integration.