WHAT DOES GENDER EQUITY MEAN?

The Range Papers Volume 11996

Introduction: What does gender equity mean in early childhood centres?
Glenda MacNaughton
When we talk about wanting greater gender equity what do we mean? There are many different ways of thinking about gender and thinking about equity. In trying to decide what our aims are in working with children around gender issues the following notes on the different approaches (or discourses) to gender equality identified in the general education literature might stimulate you to think about what we should be doing in early childhood centres. Each of these approaches is echoed in the papers in this volume and as you read the papers you might like to think about where each of them is positioned in the debate about what gender equity means in early childhood. You may find it odd that the word feminist is associated with all of the approaches. As Black says feminists are people who have attempted to assert women's autonomy and have wanted to ensure that women impact on our society in positive and fulfilling ways (Black, 1989). What ever you label gender equality work there are different ways of going about ensuring women and men have a positive place within the world. The different approaches seem to based on tackling gender equality on different levels. As you read them you might like to think about which approach feels comfortable, or not so comfortable, from the point of view of your own values and aims in the work with children. I find aspects of each of them instructive - I think each has things to offer.

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CURRENT APPROACHES TO GENDER EQUITY IN EDUCATION
Liberal feminist or equity approach: making the feminine equal to, and the same as, the masculine. Underlying assumptions
- women do not have equal opportunities to contribute to our world.
- women should have the same rights as men.
- we should work to extend the same rights to women that men have.
- women should have an equivalent status to men. Implications for interactions with children (most of the ideas about non-sexist programmes in early childhood are based on
- girls need to be given equal access to materials and play space in the kindergarten. We need to look at play patterns and monitor them to ensure equality.
- early childhood worker needs to be alert to any inequalities in access to materials and work to change this. Implications for speech and texts (ways of talking about children and Need to emphasise with children:
- girls are as good as boys, they can do anything boys can do. Girls should be valued by the extent to which they are as good and capable as men.
- doing what men do, as well as men do it is important.
- (for example, having women in key jobs and having access to all the existing power structures will change the world - a woman for PM). Radical feminist approach: valuing the feminine above the masculine. Underlying assumptions o women play a limited and limiting role in our society.
- women's role in our society should be extended.
- women are distinct and their interests, values and interpretations of the world are as valid, if not more so, than men's'.
- we should learn to have a positive bias towards the feminine. (for example, Mrs. Thatcher at the top did not make a difference for women because she espoused basically male values). Implications for interactions with children (some early childhood material has used this approach).
- ensure that you spend time on developing traditional feminine qualities in all children (caring and gentle boys and girls).
- ensure that the programme enables feminine skills to be practiced, acquired and valued by all children. (for example, children all learning to sew).
- role of the early childhood worker is to work on valuing the feminine.
- need to put considerable emphasis on feminine values as a way of countering the widespread dominance of masculine values in our society. Speech and texts We need to ensure that:
- femaleness is not downgraded or marginalised. o boys and girls should be encouraged to value the feminine.
- encourage girls to be proud of being female rather than trying to be the same as boys.
- children learn to see the world through women's eyes.
- books, stories, songs etc. should reflect this theme.
- the world will change when women values etc. rule the world. Poststructuralist feminist approach: feminine(s) and masculine(s). Many ways of being masculine and feminine. Children need to have access to different ways of being. No one correct way to be male or female. Underlying assumptions
- we live in a society that has dominant ideas about the correct way to be male and female. This represents the traditional gender order.
- the current gender order is a patriarchal gender order. The following quote explains these ideas further: Societies where the gender order is patriarchal, such as contemporary western societies are characterised by what Connell describes as 'emphasised femininity' and 'hegemonic masculinity.' (Connell, 1987, p.l83). Hegemonic masculinity is constructed in relations to the dominance of men over women, as well as over other forms of masculinity. It is heterosexual and technical competence (p.187). On the other hand, emphasised femininity, the form of femininity, which complements hegemonic masculinity, is characterised by compliance with subordination and is oriented to accommodating the interests and desires of men. Associated with emphasised femininity are qualities of sociability, sexual passivity and acceptance of domesticity and motherhood. (p. 187) A number of versions of femininity and masculinity are constructed in everyday social practices within institutions [such as early childhood centres]...Corinell asserts that the forms of femininity and masculinity constructed at the ideological level tend to be 'stylized and impoverished', but that 'their interrelation is centred on a single structural fact, the global dominance of men over women' (p. 183) (Gilbert and Taylor, 1991, p.10-il).
- there should be no one correct way to be male or female. It is the attempt to categorise us into male and female as they are seen within the current gender order that is the problem.
- change will happen when we no longer need to oppose male and female ways of being but when we can all choose to be male and female in different ways at different times. It is liberating to challenge the dominant way of understanding who we are and create alternative and oppositional understandings of what it means to be male and female - this will change power relations between the sexes.
- we should therefore learn to celebrate difference and learn to challenge the traditional gender order if we want to change women's place in the world and empower women and children. Implications for interactions with children (there are no real answers yet about how we can do this - but the following notes and quotes give some flavour for what the implications of these ideas might be):
- need to find ways to work with children to make the current male and female dualism irrelevant.
- need to talk about the differences between girls and the differences between boys as well as the things that girls and boys share, rather than only differences between girls and boys.
- extend children's understanding of how they can be male and female but ensure that we do not do so in ways that reinforce the existing gender order (male dominant, female submissive).
- children should be encouraged to understand how their actions and reactions effect other children's power to do what they want and be who they want to be. o children should be empowered to explore different ways of being masculine and feminine. Empowerment involves: ...as well as knowledge about power, (access to)... relevant sources of information, ...and skills of controlling information with which to "challenge fate".(Gilbert and Taylor, 1991, p.140) Speech and Texts We need to check:
- does what we say and read confirm the traditional gender order? Does it just retell dominant masculine and emphasised feminine ways of being, doing and acting.
- does it question the traditional gender order?
- does it show men and women differently or traditionally? They (children) need access to forms of discursive practice where their social practice is not defined in terms of the set of genitals they happen to have. They need to have access to imaginary worlds in which new metaphors, new forms of social relations, new patterns of power and desire are explored. They need the freedom to position themselves in multiple ways, some of which will be recognisably differently from the dominant 'feminine, some way of being male and female? 'masculine'as we currently understand. Children need to work on these terms...(Davies, themselves to be correct if their 1989, p.141) desires are other than the dominant male or female desires. One poststructuralist way of explaining gender Adults can help Children position themselves: inside (act, be and think) proper ways of being male and female from an early age. Children by four are correctly located within the dominant way of being male (hegemonic masculinity) and female (emphasised feminity
- are the children incorrectly gendered? Has how the adult reacted told me I am being correct?
- what can I do to act and be correct if not? Adults need to think about:
- how do we as adults help children position themselves correctly in the existing gender order?
- how did my interaction help the child understand their gender position?
- what is being made available to the children in terms of for positioning themselves differently from the dominant way of being male and female? differently from the dominant way of being male and female?. Children need to work on themselves to be correct if their desires are other than the dominant male or female desires. They have to work on their own pattern of desires. Adults can help them in this process: even when (children) resist a particular.. .position..(they) cannot escape the implications of femininity. Everything we do signifies compliance or resistance to dominant norms of what it is to be a woman. (Weedon, 1987, pp. 86-87) Poststructuralism forces us to think very carefully about the way in which language structures how children make sense of the world and the extent to which we need to fundamentally rethink the way in which the programme we offer helps children construct traditional or alternative notions of what it means to be male and female. RANGE hopes that the papers in this volume will help you to think further about how you approach gender equity in early childhood. As the papers indicate there are no right or wrong ways forward in this work and there are many issues which create debate. We hope the papers will help take debate and practice forward in constructive ways.

References
Black, N. (1989). Social Feminism. London: Cornell University Press.
Connell,R.(1987).Gender and Power Sydney:Allen and Unwin
Davies, B. (1989a). Frogs and Snails and Feminist Tails. Sydney: Allen and Unwin
Gilbert, P. And Taylor, S. (1991) Fashioning the Feminine Sydney: Allen and Unwin
Weedon,C.(1987). Feminist Practice and Postructuralist Theory. Oxford: Basil Blackwell

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Gender Equity Debates
Barbie Dolls - why have them? Leanne Hallowell RANGE Newsletter No.2 1995

BOYS PLAYING WITH BARBIE DOLLS
Yes, we do have Barbie dolls in my service. Here at the Royal Children's Hospital, one of the most important things for us to do is to make the child feel as comfortable as possible as soon as we can. To do this we will in the first instance offer toys which they may have themselves at home, or be familiar with. Barbie dolls are not available freely to all children. We keep them for children who are referred to us, and we are aware that they play with Barbie dolls at home. Now I have justified myself and the Department, more about boys playing with Barbie dolls. I have known Lewis for almost two years. He is a four year old with a chronic illness and is frequently admitted to hospital. Lewis is a quiet child, who takes a while to accept and trust people. It is expected in hospital when most people are there to perform treatments on him. Lewis appeared on the ward on Monday. We spent a lot of time playing with Quips, where I picked 'out the colours and Lewis would 'put the piece in. This was the limit of his strength. On Tuesday, Lewis was a lot brighter and able to engage in more play. This time Quips took on a new look, with lots of turn taking and trying to find the dice, which continually fell off the table. While we were reading a story after our games, Lewis pointed to a female figure in the book, and said "I love her. I love Barbie". I asked Lewis if he meant that he liked Barbie dolls, and her repeated " I love Barbie". When I told Lewis that I had some Barbie dolls, he asked if I could go and get them. As the session was almost over I suggested that I bring them in the morning. Lewis was thrilled. He spent two hours undressing Barbie, dressing Barbie, putting her to bed, putting her in the bath, helping her drive her car and the activity goes on. He was animated and could not stop talking. He was not the child we are used to, no longer placid and retiring. Shuan decided to join in. Shaun is the same age as Lewis, and is a sibling of another child with a chronic illness. Shaun attacked Barbie with vengeance. He threw her into the car, ran over another Barbie and her bike. Crashed the car into the wall, and then went to find his power ranger doll. Power ranger was there to enforce, and to punch and to attack. The doctors came in to see Lewis. He refused to go until he was told it was OK for him to take Barbie with him. So Barbie had a stethoscope placed on her chest as well. Lewis complied with the doctors' request without fuss, as long as Barbie got the same treatment. I'm not sure how the doctors felt about listening to Barbie's 'heartbeat', but it worked for Lewis. Why share this with you? Although I don't really feel comfortable with Barbie, and having been spared a childhood of Barbie dolls, I will possibly' use her, when appropriate with other children with so much trepidation. Lewis was able to show a lot of that nurturing role we seldom see in young boys. Shaun played with the bus the way I would expect a four year old boy to play with them. For me although it was an interesting process, it has not altogether changed my thoughts about Barbie, but has added more hope about our toys.

READING MORE ABOUT BARBIE
Douglas, S. (1994). Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media. New York: Times Books.
Jones, M. (1995). Pristine Barbie image revised for the '90s buyer. The Age, 23.3.1995.
Levin, D. (1995). Play and culture. Paper presented to the National Association for the Education of Young Children Annual Conference. Washington, DC, 29th November - 2nd December.
Levin, D and Carlsson-Paige, N. (1995). Turtles, Power Rangers and the marketing of violence through media and toys: how children are affected and what you can do. Paper presented to the National Association for the Education of Young Children Annual Conference. Washington, DC, 29th November - 2nd December.
Lord, M. (1994). Forever BarbieNew York: Avon Books.
MacNaughton, G. (Forthcoming) Is Barbie to blame? Australian Journal of Early Childhood.

Childrens Comments About Gender

Men and Gender

Debates About Gender Equity

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