A reconstruction of the gender agenda The contradictory gender dimensions in New Labour's educational and economic policy

• Published in: Oxford review of education Vol. 31; no. 1; pp. 173 - 189
• Main Authors: Arnot, Madeleine, Miles, Philip
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Taylor and Francis Ltd 01.03.2005; Carfax Publishing; Taylor & Francis Group Journals; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Academic underachievement; Bildungschance; Bildungspolitik; Class; Economic policy; Economics; Education; Education policy; Educational equalization; Educational Policy; Educational research; Feminism; Foreign Countries; Gender; Gender aspects; Gender Differences; Gender equality; Gender identity; Gender politics; Geschichte (Histor); Geschlechtsspezifischer Unterschied; Great Britain; Großbritannien; Ideology; Labor; Labor education; Labor party (Great Britain); Labour Party; Masculinity; New labour; Opportunity equality; Political Attitudes; Political parties; Public Policy; Schüler; Schülerin; Sex equality; Social Class; Teaching; Underachievement; United Kingdom; United Kingdom; United Kingdom > UK; England
• ISSN: 0305-4985; 1465-3915
• DOI: 10.1080/0305498042000337255

This article reviews current interpretations of Labour's education policy in relation to gender. Such interpretations see the marginalisation of gender equality in mainstream educational policy as a result of the discursive shift from egalitarianism to that of performativity. Performativity in the school context is shown to have contradictory elements ranging from an increased feminisation of teaching and the (re)masculinisation of schooling. Also, whilst underachievement is defined as 'the problem of boys', the production of hierarchical masculinities and 'laddishness' by marketised schools is ignored. The policy shift towards performativity also masks girls' exclusion and the disadvantages working-class girls face within the education system. The rhetoric of gender equality, although stronger in the field of post-16 training and employment, is no less contradictory. The effects of New Labour are found in the aggravation of social class divisions within gender categories and the spiralling differences between male and female paths. Gender equality ideals in education are therefore shown to have a far more complex relationship to New Labour politics than previously thought. (DIPF/Orig.).