Research on gender issues and mathematics education is often conducted in classroom settings and/or with teachers, students, and parents. However, perspectives about mathematics from adults beyond teachers and parents can have an impact on students. Thus, we conducted research in Australia and Canada about the general public's views of gender and…

Despite the much-touted 'sexual revolution', during the 1960s-70s, at the time most Western education systems avoided sex education. This article identifies contradictory discourses about sex as manifested in two distinct cultural expressions that co-occurred in those years in the UK. The first represented mainstream social conservatism - in the…

LGBTIQ children and adolescents experience disproportionate levels of bullying. "Safe Schools," an Australian anti-bullying program, has recently been a site of public debate, with parents and their imagined concerns being central to the debate. This study investigated how parents construct gender, sexuality, and bullying, in relation to…

Increasing recreational reading is a priority in a climate of growing adolescent aliteracy. Raising the social appeal of books has been identified as one potential avenue for arresting this trend. An understanding of the current social acceptability of book reading amongst contemporary adolescents is important in informing an effective approach to…

While the issue of boys' dominance of the curriculum has a long history, the article examines this phenomenon in a contemporary context, through an empirical study with female teachers designing English curriculum around girls' media in a coeducational secondary school in Victoria, Australia. In this space, teachers, and the researcher, produce…

This sociological qualitative study identifies reasons why female pre-service teachers believe males are underrepresented in primary education courses at Australian universities. The findings of the study suggest that the nineteenth century naturalistic discourse of nurturance continues to sustain the notion that primary school teaching is a…

Gender differences in mathematics learning have attracted sustained attention in Australia and internationally. Over time, female participation in academic fields and careers long considered male domains has improved. Yet recent mathematics achievement data reveal that gender gaps favouring males appear to have re-opened. In our study we explored…

This paper interrogates the relationship between the social distance men have from children, fear, and the social expectation that men will be capable of managing student (mis)behaviours. Briefly, the central argument is that the social distance men, as a group, have from children, and child protection concerns of men working with children can…

A common theme in the literature on care-giving is the issue of "hidden" carers, that is, people who undertake caring roles and responsibilities, yet do not identify themselves as carers. One reason people do not recognise themselves as carers relates to the nature of the caring relationship. When providing care for a family member,…

Research has shown that girls do not participate as much as boys in Information Technology (IT) in the senior years of high school. Despite research in the 1990s which identified the under-representation of girls in IT, the same pattern still continues. In addition, the complex reasons for this gender divide, and how to counter it, remain unclear.…

In Australia, Indigenous young women are more likely to become pregnant while in their teens than non-Indigenous young women. Factors such as poverty, educational outcomes and unemployment play a major role; however, there is little understanding of the attitudes of young women themselves with regards to pregnancy. This paper explores young…

This paper outlines early findings from the Tasmanian-based Social Norms Analysis Project (SNAP). The Social Norms model is presented as a theoretically informed, evidence-based model for reducing alcohol-related harm in youthful populations by utilising the complex and often positive contributions peer groups make to adolescent health and…

A content analysis of 25 award-winning Australian picture books was conducted to examine whether the incidence of sex-role stereotyping had decreased in Australian picture books since the mid 1970s. Comparing a sample of books from the mid 1970s to a sample from the 2000s, three potential areas of stereotyping were assessed: ratios of male to…

Young citizens growing up in different societies experience multiple socialization processes that help to shape their values and attitudes toward the political life of their societies. In this cross-national study, researchers asked students directly about their views of what "good" citizens do, how they saw themselves participating in…

Despite three decades of research, gendered participation in music continues to be problematic. While many aspects of Western society maintain a patriarchal stance in the workplace, it is apparent that girls have made some significant changes in their musical choices. Males, it seems, are maintaining the same preferences for instruments as they…