This article examines data from two different studies concerning issues of social justice, gender and schooling and specifically the practices of secondary teachers, "Mr B", a teacher from a school in Tasmania, Australia, and "Mr C", a teacher from a school in Bedfordshire in the United Kingdom. Both teachers' practices and…

Despite calls for a more nuanced approach to issues of gender and equity that recognizes how broader relations of gender and power continue to produce injustices for many females, essentialized accounts expressing concern about boys' poor educational performance remain the most common refrain in dominant equity discourses across Western contexts.…