Are We There Yet? Gender Equity Journeys in Early Childhood Practice

2017 ◽  
pp. 179-192
Author(s):  
Sheralyn Campbell ◽  
Kate Alexander ◽  
Kylie Smith
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Gender Equity

Spaces for Gender Equity in Australian Early Childhood Education in/Between Discourses of Human Capital and Feminism

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 54-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheralyn Campbell ◽  
Kylie Smith ◽  
Kate Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Quality Standard ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
National Quality ◽  
Relations Of Power ◽  
Regime Of Truth

IN THIS ARTICLE WE use feminist post-structuralist concepts of discourse and relations of power to question how a neoliberal regime of truth in Australian early childhood education impacts educators currently working for gender equity with children, prior to their entry to schooling. We show how this regime of truth is endorsed and transferred in and by key documents of the Australian National Quality Framework (NQF) including the National Quality Standard (NQS) and the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) in which discourses of universal rights, individual freedom and choice, and human capital dominate approaches to inclusion and diversity that govern gender equity work (ACECQA, 2011, 2017a, 2017b; DEEWR, 2009; NSW Education, 2016). Our article addresses how some educators use their understandings of feminism to negotiate spaces for gender equity work within the theoretical, political and ethical tensions arising in/between discourses that constitute this neoliberal regime of truth.

scholarly journals The Long-Term Impact of Preschool Health and Nutrition on Education

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (2_suppl2) ◽  
pp. S193-S201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Jukes
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Malaria Prevention ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Health And Nutrition ◽  
Nutrition Supplementation ◽  
Infancy And Early Childhood ◽  
Long Term Impact

Malnutrition and infectious diseases in infancy and early childhood have an impact on the cognitive development of children in developing countries. The long-term effects of these diseases are less well understood. A number of studies relate early malnutrition, iron deficiency, and malaria infection to poor cognitive abilities in the school-age years. The long-term effect of randomized interventions in early childhood has been evaluated for nutrition supplementation and psychosocial stimulation of malnourished children and for malaria prevention in a community cohort. The evidence suggests that improving the health and nutrition of young children can improve their subsequent chances of attending school, the gender equity of education access, and performance of children once at school.

Teacher Understandings of and Commitment to Gender Equity in the Early Childhood Setting

2005 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerrin Lee-Thomas ◽  
Jennifer Sumsion ◽  
Susan Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Early Childhood Teachers ◽  
Gender Inequity ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Feminist Poststructuralist ◽  
Early Childhood Settings

Despite considerable examination of gender and gender equity within early childhood education, gender inequity remains problematic in many early childhood settings. Using qualitative methods, the study reported in this article investigated four early childhood teachers' understandings about gender and their commitment to promoting gender equity. It adopted a triangulated investigation of the teachers' understandings, attitudes and commitment to gender equity that involved talking with the teachers about their practice, observing their pedagogic practice, and inviting them to reflect on gender-based scenarios. While the participants believed gender to be a significant issue for early childhood teachers, their understandings about many aspects of gender and gender equity were heavily grounded in socialisation theory. In addition, their reliance on socialisation theory seemed to contribute to a sense of fatalism regarding their capacity for intervention. The study concludes that engaging with feminist poststructuralist theory may enhance teachers' understanding about gender and gender equity and offer a way of intervening effectively at the local level.

A Party Trick

Pained ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 11-12
Author(s):  
Michael D. Stein ◽  
Sandro Galea
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Potential ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Parks And Recreation ◽  
Care Health ◽  
Economic Fairness

This chapter distinguishes between health and health care. Health is a desired state of well-being that allows people to do what they want to do, enabling them to live full, rich lives, and to realize their human potential. Health care is the system that aims to restore people to health when they get sick. The conflation of health and health care is not without consequence. In fact, it fundamentally affects the health of the country. When people believe that health and health care are synonymous, they pour money into health care, thinking they are investing in health. This leads them away from addressing the true foundations of health, such as early childhood education, parks and recreation, prevention of suicide and substance use, gender equity, and economic fairness. This results in a one-sided focus on health care, at the expense of investing in the roots causes of health.

A Strategic Approach to Collaborating with Parents for Gender Equity in Early Childhood

1997 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenda MacNaughton
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Parental Attitudes ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Early Childhood Programs ◽  
Feminist Poststructuralism ◽  
Strategic Approach

This article draws on recent Australian research to explore the complexities of parental attitudes in relation to gender equity in early childhood programs. It describes parental attitudes to their children's involvement in centres where early childhood staff were implementing gender equity programs. Key ideas within feminist poststructuralism are introduced and used to discuss ways in which early years educators can use these ideas to plan a strategic approach to their gender equity work with parents.

Gender in Early Childhood Revisited

1998 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjory Ebbeck
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Gender Issues ◽  
Poststructural Theory ◽  
Feminist Poststructural Theory

The debates on children's socialisation and, recently, in this respect, on gender issues continues to flourish. The current vogue is to view feminist poststructural theory as a basis for framing gender equity programs in early childhood (MacNaughton, 1997, p.23). This paper proposes that the issues of gender equity are complex and cannot be addressed solely by taking a feminist poststructural approach or, for that matter, any one approach. What is important, this paper will argue, is the adoption of a view which embraces the wider issues surrounding gender and the formulation of an approach which recognises that the socialisation of both boys and girls needs more than an application of any one theory.

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