Science education for all, some or just a few? Feminist and gender perspectives on science education: a special issue

Abstract

This special issue of Culture Studies of Science Education has articles that adopt a critical stance by building on feminist, gender and/or queer perspectives on science education. Before a more detailed introduction and overview of the present issue, I will start by positioning gender studies and gender research, what it is and what it includes. Gender studies is an interdisciplinary subject emerging from feminist and critical research on gender and power issues, which comprises the knowledge of theories, methods and approaches from earlier and current feminist and gender research. Gender research is the study of gender and the intersection of gender with other socio-cultural categories of analysis and identity, such as ethnicity, sexuality, class, disability, nationality, language and more. It analyses the complex constructions of gender in different historical contexts, in various cultural arenas, and varying global processes. One aspect of gender research is feminist critique of the scientific knowledge production. Gender studies also includes other critical studies related to power and gender, such as women’s studies, masculinity studies, and queer studies, among others. Thus, gender studies and gender research problematize the importance of gender in different contexts. At the focal point are questions such as: What are the explicit and implicit expectations of women and men in different social, cultural, and historical contexts? How is gender performed in daily life and practices? How do these norms and expectations limit the ways in which we are allowed to move, look, talk, behave, and learn? In this special issue the context is science education, including all levels from preschool to doctoral studies. When the idea of a special issue arose, the intention from the beginning was to have a strong focus on feminist research. For some researchers, feminist research uses gender as an analytical category. For others, it has a specific meaning that is applicable to certain parts of the field and is characterized by including political activism and movement for social change. In that sense such research not only studies and problematizes the