![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to characterize feminist pedagogy within the context of economics instruction in the US and to contribute to the development of this paradigm by charting out a research agenda for feminist pedagogy in economics. Our argument proceeds in two parts. First, we answer the question, what is feminist pedagogy in economics (FPiE)? This section sets out a working definition and contextualizes FPiE within the broader pedagogy literature, within the pedagogy literature specific to economics, and within the practice of economics teaching today. Next, we explore new directions for research and practice in FPiE by discussing post-positivist epistemologies, resisting the depoliticization of economics education, and effective responses to diversity in the neoliberal university.
Acknowledgements
We thank the editor and two anonymous referees who provided insightful suggestions. All errors remain ours.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 A note about terminology: we use the singular “feminist pedagogy” (and “feminist pedagogy in economics”) strategically to refer to a set of evolving, locally specific, and contested practices perhaps better captured by the plural, “feminist pedagogies.” Feminism can be understood to be an umbrella term for a set of social, political, and intellectual movements (feminisms) arising from the lives of groups of women and other groups marginalized by gender hierarchies, including nonbinary and trans people of all genders. We also refer to “women and people from underrepresented racial and ethnic” groups. This, too, is an evolving and contested term that is often evoked in terms of national contexts (prominently the US and the UK), but which has local meanings within countries and which can be expanded to include neocolonial relationships and the status of students, instructors, and economists in the Global South and its diaspora.
2 Feminist writing has shown that patriarchy, the system of domination based on gender, intersects with other forms of domination, such as those based on class, race, colonialism, and ecological degradation. We agree with so many feminists before us that single-axis analysis of power is not tenable in social science research or in political struggle.
3 Freire said, “In order to follow me it is essential not to follow me!” (Freire and Faundez Citation1989, p. 30), which is to say, critical pedagogy is a philosophy that cannot be reduced to a simple formula or a series of activities that instructors can implement. Feminist pedagogy shares these same qualities.
4 For excellent overviews, see Darder, Baltodano, and Torres (Citation2008b) and Giroux (Citation2008).
5 It is always difficult to trace the intellectual development of concepts like feminist pedagogy. Our criterion in reviewing the literature began with a narrow focus: we looked for works written by economists or published in economics journals that discuss how feminism or a normative focus on gender difference and gender inequality might influence pedagogy in economics.
6 This paragraph draws from Harding (Citation1992, p. 441).
7 Other goals include helping participants to develop: (1) “The ability to analyze and evaluate how classroom climate, pedagogy, and assessment impact student behaviors and outcomes, recognizing that these impacts are heterogeneous;” (2) “The ability to teach students to learn economics using some of the quantitative approaches employed by economists;” (3) “The ability to think critically about course goals and learning outcomes and their relationship to pedagogic choices and assessment, with special attention to enhancing diversity and inclusion;” and (4) “The ability to communicate motivations for, and outcomes of, teaching enhancement to diverse audiences.”
8 Based partially on feedback from attendees, the workshop has been modified with more explicit attention to race and gender in subsequent iterations.