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- Title
FEMINIST PEDAGOGY IN ALBANIAN SCHOOLS.
- Authors
Çela, Eriada
- Abstract
The transition from the communist regime to the pluralist system in Albania is a process that has lasted almost three decades. During this time the Albanian society and its institutions have made numerous efforts to progress and adapt to the contemporary way of life and policy-making. Despite major changes in all social and institutional dimensions during these decades, the totalitarian regime of almost fifty years in Albania still affects in many ways the way people think and act and the way educational institutions at all levels organize their work. Even though in the past polarized gender relations in society and education may have helped plan and organize a range of social and educational activities, today they are problematic as they create a hostile rather than cooperative climate. This paper presents feminist pedagogy as a useful alternative to help transform Albanian society and education today. While in the communist past even long queues to buy daily consumer goods were divided on one side for men and on the other for women, gender today still plays an important role in all spheres of human and institutional interaction in Albania. The way people perceive, create or discuss social reality is influenced by "gender lenses", a metaphorical concept introduced by Sandra L. Bem, which emphasizes that secret assumptions about sex or gender are rooted in cultural discourses, social institutions, and individual psyche. Along with androcentrism and biological essentialism, Bem sees gender polarization as one of the three constituent elements of gender lenses, which need to be identified and made visible rather than obscured. Gender polarization occurs when "male-female differences have been emphasized and imposed concerning so many aspects of the social world that a false cultural link has been established between sex and every other aspect of human experience" (Bem, 1993, p. 2). The problem with gender polarization lies in the fact that harmful antagonism is created between boys and girls from an early age, which continues to become even more pronounced over the years until the creation of a large gender gap that begins in the perception of then it is strengthened and concretized in terms of salaries, job positions, and decision-making. The large gender gap in these areas constitutes gender-based discrimination, which mainly restricts girls and women by causing injustice to them in various areas, but also complicates in some areas the lives of boys and men in terms of stereotypes and certain expectations for them. This paper addresses the importance of feminist pedagogy in teaching while emphasizing the need for teachers to introduce gender equality practices in their classrooms.
- Subjects
ALBANIA; FEMINISTS; TEACHER attitudes; GENDER inequality; SEX discrimination
- Publication
Knowledge: International Journal, 2021, Vol 48, Issue 2, p359
- ISSN
2545-4439
- Publication type
Article