Literature Review

Feminist Pedagogy and Its Various Applications - A Literature Review

By:  Lisa Melby

Name	Commented On
Lisa Melby	Nicholas Capozzoli - Group 4

Introduction

In the words of Carolyn M. Shrewsbury (1997), Feminist pedagogy is a theory about the teaching/learning process that guides our choice of classroom practices by providing criteria to evaluate specific educational strategies and techniques in terms of the desired course goals or outcomes.  The classroom that establishes a desire to follow best feminine practices is a classroom that empowers students, supports self-reflection, mutual respect, gender justice, while defeating sexism, racism, classism, and homophobia.  The following information includes various applications of Feminine Pedagogy in educational settings and arenas.

General Themes

Within the arena of adult education, many theories and philosophies are pragmatically utilized to explicate concepts of sexism, classism, racism, and homophobia.  A very beneficial, critical theoretical perspective to be employed in the arena of adult education is feminist pedagogy.  According to Meriam, Caffarella, and Baumgartner (2007), “Feminist pedagogy is ‘a method of teaching and learning employing a political framework that involves consciousness-raising, activism, and a caring and safe environment’”.  There are roughly as many elements of feminist pedagogy as there are theories applied to adult education.  For example, Marxist, Black, liberal, radical, and psychoanalytic, just to name a few.  Critical thinking is an integral component of feminist pedagogy.  Students are strongly encouraged to analyze the power structures within a society and how these structures may affect learning.  “Critical thinking…is not an abstracted analysis but a reflective process firmly grounded in the experiences of the everyday” (Shrewsbury, 1997).  Critical reflection allows for analysis of oneself and the prejudices that we connect with.  Within the ideal feminist pedagogical learning environment, students discuss topics openly and freely while remembering to be respectful of each other’s perspectives.  Feminine pedagogy can be applied not only in the classroom, but to any adult learning situation.  For example, Human Resource Development.

Human Resource Development

The patriarchal perspectives of our unchallenged past are being questioned with vigor now-a-days by feminist pedagogy groups in several arenas.  Within Human Resource Development, a relatively new field of study, writers and researchers are stressing the importance of “creating new knowledge of essential importance” by utilizing the framework of feminist pedagogy.  Human resource departments (HRD) within organizations have, among others, the responsibility to ward off discrimination of all kinds.  At an academic conference, authors Bierema, Tisdell, Johnson-Bailey, and Gedro presented that HRD does not do a sufficient job and also feel that it should incorporate a feminist pedagogy approach.  According to these writers, there are four important reasons why HRD should “be concerned with feminist pedagogy”:  1) they both are concerned with the structure of knowledge; 2) the overwhelming presence of white male leadership in HRD; 3) HRD ‘should integrate more critical perspectives’; and 4), both HRD and feminist pedagogy are ‘focused on making a difference in the lives of people’.

Universal Design

A second arena where feminist pedagogy is a topic of discussion is within the concept of Universal Design, particularly how it affects academic communication between deaf and hearing students.  “Universal Design is a theory that accessibility to all groups is necessary to promote a healthy environment for all” (Blizzard & Foster, 2007).  According to Deborah Blizzard and Susan Foster, authors of Feminist Pedagogy and Universal Design in a Deaf and Hearing World: Linking Cultures Through Artifacts and Understanding (2007), feminist pedagogy empowers students, seeks egalitarian relationships, and strives to teach at the margins where students of different cultures are assisted in learning the material and engaging in the course.  The uniqueness of a deaf and hearing classroom requires some critical review.  How do instructors maintain equality for their deaf students who use interpreters to receive classroom instruction?  There is always a lag of time from when the hearing instructor speaks and when the interpreter produces the message on their hands (by using sign language).  This lag time makes the deaf students ‘fall behind the hearing students’.  This in turn produces an imbalanced learning environment.  However, the adaption of Universal Design in this type of classroom setting offers benefits for all students.

Antifeminism/Masculinism

           

Antifeminism, or masculinism as some refer to it as, is another topic often discussed in correlation with feminist pedagogy, although not often enough in an educational setting.  In Analyzing Masculinist Movements: Responding to Antifeminism through Critical Communication Pedagogy, David H. Kahl tells us that the antifeminism agenda of masculinism is important for students to critically study due to its detrimental nature of ‘gaining power by subjugating women’.  By studying this demoralizing agenda, students will be able to “respond to such marginalization when they encounter it”.

Exceptionality, Gender, & Power

           

A fourth theme, a triad if you will, can be found in the article Issues of exceptionality, gender, and power: exploring Canadian children’s award-winning literature, by Nancy Taber and Vera Woloshyn.  Exceptionality, gender, and power, a triad of common themes examined within feminist theories, are readily seen within books that school-aged children read.  Girls, especially are taught at a young age how gendered societal roles really are.  They grow up learning that their place in the world consists more of a passive stance than a leadership role.  Taber and Woloshyn bring to the forefront these issues through their research of “gendered representations in (award-winning) children’s literature”.  

Patriarchy

           

The last topic of discussion is that of patriarchy which can be seen in the article, Imagining Patriarchy.  Author David L. Tubbs’ patriarchal stance against feminist Susan Moller Okin, a political philosopher, author, and Stanford professor, takes a rather unique, if not impaired, approach to academic discussion.  Through my formal education journey, I have not come across such blatant hatred as from this masculinist.  Tubbs leaves no room for misunderstanding.  He is very clear in his attack on Okin.  According to his “research”, Okin was a horrible writer and researcher, oftentimes skewing facts.  “I discovered that much of Okin’s historical scholarship is sloppy, with a large number of errors, exaggerations, and omissions.  The failings are of such magnitude that they can, without overstatement, be described as egregious” [!] (Tubbs, 2004).  Tubbs is overly concerned that because of Okin’s status at Stanford, her students and colleagues most likely indiscriminately accepted her “flawed” research, resulting in making “some persons more sympathetic to different feminist initiatives in higher education”.  Throughout his piece, he makes several references of her ‘tendency to over-exaggerate the subordination of women’.  As this is even possible!

Implications

The education of adults is a varied and widely studied business.  “Indeed, the field of adult and continuing education is characterized by a bewildering array of programs, agencies, and personnel working to assist adults in their learning” (Merriam, Caffarella & Baumgartner, 2007).  Numerous approaches and perspectives have arisen to assist instructors in assisting the adult student to learn.  Feminist pedagogy is one such perspective.  If utilized correctly, it has the ability to empower.  “Empowering pedagogy does not dissolve the authority of the instructor…[it] allows students to find their own voices, to discover the power of authenticity” (Shrewsbury, 1997).  Instructors help students discover how to become agents for social action and change by rising above structural oppression.  Feminist pedagogy benefits everybody, not only women. 

Reflection

I began work on this paper by deciding my subject.  From there I took full advantage of Ball State’s library online by finding varied, interesting articles to read.  I tried not to choose articles that were longer than twenty pages as I know that I would lose interest and focus if longer.  I printed out the PDF’s, highlighting important parts as I read them.  I designed my “Summary of Literature Review” and used that to refer back to as I typed the paper.  I also had previously gathered some other literature to use as support and reference for the paper.  Perhaps the most unique aspect of my research was the reading of the “Tubbs” article.  I’m not sure why (meaning I realize patriarchy exists but this man was deplorable), but I was shocked when I read his article.  I was shocked because of his brutality towards Okin, a feminist.  I particularly enjoyed writing this because I am gaining knowledge of the rhetoric that is used concerning feminist pedagogy.

Idea 1	Human Resource Development and Feminism	The importance of broadening research in the field of HRD is of the utmost importance.  Not only is it important to expand research, it is important to include the voice of feminism within this research.  “Human resource practices sometimes function to perpetuate patriarchal systems of power”.  By approaching this relatively new field of study with a less sexist agenda, HRD can only thrive.
Idea 2	Feminist Pedagogy and Universal Design in a Deaf and Hearing World	Universal Design (UD) in a mixed classroom of deaf and hearing students is a concept that bridges the communication gap.  “Universal Design is a foundational theory upon which much of disability studies rests; it examines the physical structure of a classroom and believes in intellectual heterogeneity”.  UD and feminine pedagogy both support “educating at the margins”.
Idea 3	Antifeminism/Masculinism	The concept of masculinism is detrimental to students.  Its hegemonic approach and attribution to the “scapegoat theory” places women at the margins of society.  By studying this hegemonic concept, “students will develop the means to respond to such marginalization when they encounter it”.
Idea 4	Oppression, exceptionality, gender, and power in Canadian children’s literature	Critical discussions are crucial to how exceptionality, gender, and power are portrayed within children’s literature.  From a young age, children are subjected to hegemonic ideals.  Feminist thought strives to bring to light the pervasive concepts of dis/ability and gender within this genre.
Idea 5	Patriarchy	The author of this paper wrote exclusively about a female political philosopher that championed feminist methods of inquiry. He believed that this feminist had her own agenda of “humanist justice – devoid of any patriarchal bias”.  The feminist, in his opinion, did a poor job of teaching college students her philosophies due to her lack of factual knowledge and championing her own feminist agenda.  The article is proof of patriarchy at its finest.

References:

Bierema, L. L., Tisdell, E., Johnson-Bailey, J., & Gedro, J. (2002). Integrating

feminist research and practice in the field of HRD. Proceedings of the Academy of Human Resource Development, Honolulu, HI, CE 084 659. Innovative Session.

Blizzard, D., & Foster, S. (2007). Feminist pedagogy and universal design in a deaf

and hearing world: linking cultures through artifacts and understanding. Feminist Teacher: A Journal of the Practices, Theories, And Scholarship of Feminist Teaching, 17(3), 225-236.

Kahl, D. H. (2015). Analyzing Masculinist Movements: Responding to antifeminism

through critical communication pedagogy. Communication Teacher, 29(1),

21-26.

Merriam, S. B.; Caffarella, R. S.; Baumgartner, L. M.  (2007). Learning in adulthood:

a comprehensive guide (3^rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Shrewsbury, C. M. (1997). What is feminist pedagogy?. Women’s Studies

Quarterly, 166-173.

Taber, N., & Woloshyn, V. (2011). Issues of exceptionality, gender, and power:

Exploring Canadian children's award-winning literature. Gender and Education, 23(7), 889-902.

Tubbs, D. L. (2004). Imagining patriarchy. Academic Questions, 17(2), 45-58.