Resumen de (Un)Restricting feminism: High school students’ definitions of gender and feminism in the context of the historic struggle for women’s rights
There are multiple benefits to women’s history, including identifying women’s experiences as historically significant and recognizing the variety of perspectives of historical actors. Engaging students with resources on women’s history requires teachers to be prepared to deal with students’ misconceptions and feelings about gender and feminism. Using historic photographs from the second-wave feminist movement and a theoretical framework of Social Practice Theory, this naturalistic study addresses how 17 high school seniors defined and utilized gender and feminism in the context of the struggle for gender equity. Students were able to identify and describe various systems of power in nuanced and complex ways. The findings illustrate the impact that students’ gender identities and understandings of institutionalized oppression have on their historical analyses and suggest that teachers should consider students’ understandings about power when developing social studies curriculum and instruction that centers on critical gender equity.
