Resources for teachers and parents about children’s books that challenge gender stereotypes Read the full story

Why are girl things so despised? Consider the derisive response to music girls like, movies and television shows girls watch, social networking sites girls inhabit, activities in which girls engage, and the clothes girls wear. The criticism is always snide and condescending: girl things—which appeal to, attract, star, and represent girls—are considered, at best, vacuous and, at worst, distasteful. In a 1999 article, gender and cultural studies scholar Catharine Driscoll argues anything perceived as a “girl thing” is instantly dismissed without consideration of the importance it might have in the lives of real girls. While the Spice Girls and their fans offer an infamous example of this girl-targeted derision, there are no comparable examples of bashing boy-things; no ubiquitous hatred for boys and their things. Read the full story

Earlier this year, GEA got very excited when we discovered some feminist activity happening online led a group of teenagers who are still at school and are passionate about feminism. The Twitter Youth Feminist Army (TYFA), like GEA, is committed to  developing girls’ interest in feminist issues and ideas, but are also re-definining what feminism and being ‘a feminist’ means to them.  We invited Lili, ‘admin queen’ of the TYFA to write a blog for us and tell us what its all about…..

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Dar es Salaam, 14 – 16 November 2012

GEA Policy Report Read the full story

It is an overcast Friday in mid-October as the Cardiff University contingent (that’s us!) pull up outside a rated-but-dated business hotel in Newport; we are attending the #KeepingItReal conference for teenage girls, run by the South Wales charity Full Circle, who seek to support aspiration in young people, and as we find our way into the conference suite the atmosphere of excitement and enthusiasm is already building. A large room is decked out as if an awards ceremony is about to take place, with over a dozen huge round tables, bedecked with linen and festive balloons, arranged in front of a stage where a sound check is underway. The walls are lined with exhibitors from local charities promoting sexual health, domestic violence services, and education opportunities, and what we thought to be a big purple bouncy castle in the corner turns out to be an inflatable ‘Big Brother Diary Room’ for the teenage attendees to record their thoughts about their lives and the conference away from adult eyes. No bouncing for us then, we sigh, and set up our stall nearby.  Filling the table with pamphlets and adverts for our gender and sexualities research group, we also lay out our GEA leaflets and journal copies, later eagerly seized by both teachers and charity representatives alike. Read the full story

Back in the late eighties I was one of two girls out of thirty pupils in my 5^th form Physics class. While girls were happy to take up the Biology and Modern Language options, in my Physics class I languished- ignored by the boys that did not care to pair up for experiments with lens and pendulums with these odd girls that had bizarrely chosen this apparently most ‘male’ of subjects. Sadly, my experience in the Physics lab mirrored that of the sports playing field. Last to be picked, my teenage love of hockey and Physics soon waned.  It seems little has unfortunately changed in the intervening decades. Read the full story

Let it be known that my six-year-old daughter is a child rife with frolicsome mischief.  

The experience of parenting said child fostered my interest in naughty youngsters, the connections between misbehavior and personhood and how all children—especially girls– are socialized in schools. Thus socialized through behavior management practices, many are taught to equate obedience with learning and conformity with personhood. Recently I came across two different pieces in the mainstream media that piqued my interest along these lines: The first was Bill Lichtenstein’s September 9^th New York Times reflection on the all-too-common strategies for ‘managing students in US schools and the second was a BBC interview with Michael Kenny, the first male graduate of Norland College.   Read the full story

The UN has declared that October the 11th 2012 will mark the very first International Day of the Girl Child. Read the full story

‘Great papers, lots of interesting people and plenty of opportunity for important dialogue’

‘I was totally blown away by Wednesday. Best conference I’ve ever been to, especially the way that the conversations just got more and more interesting as the day went on’

The 8^th February 2012 saw another exciting GEA seedcorn event on the theme of Modern Girlhoods. This day seminar was well attended with over 50 participants from Brunel, across the UK and further afield. Read the full story