How Gender Conscious Pedagogy in Higher Education Can Stimulate Actions of Social Justice in Society

Abstract

In order to reflect about methods that can generate social justice and democratization, this article emphasises on practical implementations, connected to gender conscious pedagogy. Gender conscious pedagogy aims at overcoming the myth of objectivity, and by questioning through teaching what is considered as common sense and ‘normal’. This entails acting and reflecting on breakthroughs, for example about an understanding of how gender codes influence everyday instances as well as working life. The collected data is based on narratives from alumni students who were asked to memorise and reflect on their gender studies and particularly about how useful this type of knowledge is in connection with everyday and working life - as politician, lecturer, IT-manager, doctoral student etc. The aim of this article is to focus on how teachers support students to be gender confident and as a consequence of that, becoming gender actors outside the university, in working life. Some central questions are: how are gender issues represented and integrated in the different areas of studies; what can teachers do in order to generate equality in the classroom; in what way and how are students given possibilities of understanding, internalizing and discussing gender issues.

Using Facebook as a co-learning community in higher education

“…In other words, norms are internalized because of experiences based on exclusion or inclusion in traditional classroom situations connected to teaching and learning processes. Consequently, such experiences need to be reflected in terms of process, connected to views about equality, rights and democracy in society (Cuesta and Witt 2014;Lundberg and Werner 2012).…”

Creating space for critical feminist social work pedagogy1

“…The feminist scholarship of teaching and learning offers a critique of traditional pedagogy (Cuesta & Witt, 2014). Overall, the feminist pedagogical project focuses on resistance to phallocentric knowledges (Luke, 1996;Ylostalo & Brunila, 2017) understanding gendered relations of power and making these power arrangements visible (Briskin & Coulter, 1992;Webber, 2006).…”

“…Feminist pedagogues argue that traditional pedagogy and phallocentric knowledges obscure women's lived experiences, histories, achievements, concerns and entitlements. Feminist pedagogy is a driving force that shifts the focus of study towards understanding the lived experiences of women (Borshuk, 2017;Cuesta & Witt, 2014;David, 2015;Dore, 1994;Forrest & Rosenberg, 1997;Kovacs et al, 2013;McCusker, 2017;Shrewsbury, 1993;Chung, 2016). Gender and its intersections with race, class, culture, age, ability and sexuality, is the core analytic category that distinguishes feminist pedagogy from other forms of critical pedagogical theories (Briskin & Coulter, 1992).…”

Addressing gender in STEM classrooms: The impact of gender bias on women scientists' experiences in higher education careers in Germany

“…According to scholars from education, psychology and social work, one approach to address gender bias in higher education (HE) may be to develop gender-conscious pedagogies (Norman & Wheeler, 1996;Witt & Cuesta, 2014). If gender bias is directly addressed within pedagogical methods and awareness training in the classrooms of HEI, it can create awareness, which can benefit all genders in their learning in the classroom and later careers (Witt & Cuesta, 2014).…”