‘They’ve never been taught what feminism is’: the case for teaching feminism, gender issues, and related topics in school

Stocker, Laura

Birkbeck Schools and Research Centres > School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy > History, Classics and Archaeology

feminism, gender, #MeToo movement, education, high school, British Columbia

Data were gathered using in-depth, semi-structured interviewing.

Interview questions explored young participants’ awareness of feminism, their experience learning about it in school, and their awareness regarding #MeToo, while those for the high school teacher explored her experience teaching feminist philosophy.
As this research was conducted during the initial months of the global COVID pandemic, the sampling technique employed was one of convenience. Participants were therefore recruited using my personal network in British Columbia.
Young participants were recruited based on the following criteria: adolescents aged 19-20 years old of any gender who had completed their schooling in the BC education system. As I was interested in understanding adolescent awareness of feminism and the #MeToo movement, it was necessary to withhold this information upfront; otherwise I considered the validity of the study to be jeopardized as participants could potentially inform themselves on the topics ahead of time. Participants were therefore recruited under the broad topic of “gender-related issues”. Given COVID-19, interviews were conducted online via synchronous connection using video technology.
The interviews with young participants averaged one hour in length, with the shortest lasting around forty minutes and the longest lasting around an hour and fifteen minutes. The interview with the high school teacher also lasted around one hour and fifteen minutes. Interviews were video recorded and manually transcribed.

The sample of four young participants was rather homogenous, particularly with regards to gender, as all participants identified as female. Two participants identified as heterosexual, one as homosexual and one as bisexual. Three self-identified as white and one as half Asian, half white. Two participants were 19 and two were 20 years old. The four participants graduated from three high schools located in three different cities/towns within a 50 km radius. All participants were university students and two were working over the summer break. Program majors ranged from environmental studies, psychology, civil engineering, to business. One participant was completing a minor in gender studies as part of her degree. To protect the anonymity of the high school teacher, no demographic characteristics are disclosed other than she is female. Pseudonyms were assigned to each participant.

Not applicable