“The Glass Ceiling Is Kind of a Bummer”: Women’s Reflections on a Gender Development Course

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore women students' experiences and reactions to a core Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) class cross-listed with Women's Studies (WS). Using 6 focus groups with 22 women, we found that the course increased awareness of gender (Theme A) but was limited partially because of patriarchical beliefs, evidenced by acceptance of sexism (Theme B) and men as central (Theme C). The beliefs were manifested in how students interacted with course material, which was predominately through rejection of the course (Theme D). Using skill theory framework, we explain our findings through the interplay of the environment and students' cognitive skills. Implications for HDFS/Women's Studies cross-listed courses are discussed.

Student resistance in the classroom—Functional‐instrumentalist, critical‐emancipatory and critical‐functional conceptualisations

“…Authors in this perspective claim to expose students to critical social issues on the one hand yet hold a functionalist understanding of student resistance in the classroom on the other hand. Considering university courses that address critical topics such as inequality and oppression related to gender, sex, race, class or ethnicity (e.g., Brezina, ; Gimenez, ; Haddad & Lieberman, ; Sharp, SoRelle‐Miner, Bermudez, & Walker, ; Williams & Evans‐Winters, ), authors follow an emancipatory understanding of education. In so doing, their goal is to change (or at least to broaden) the mind set of students by offering them alternative views of social reality through social justice education.…”