Femininity, class & status: the societal devaluation of the female early years workforce

IF 16.4 1区化学 Q1 CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Accounts of Chemical Research Pub Date : 2023-08-17 DOI:10.1080/13636820.2023.2246331

Ruby Juanita Brooks

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Abstract

ABSTRACT This thesis responds to contemporary debates about early childhood education and the gendered nature of the workforce, drawing on feminist theory, interpretive methodologies and practitioner accounts. This project amplifies the female voice of practitioners in the workforce, using data drawn from semi- structured interviews with 11 early years practitioners. Drawing on intersectional feminist theories surrounding women’s liberation from misogyny, and Foucauldian conceptualisations of power, this project will highlight the role of femininity on predominantly working-class early childhood practitioners, and how it distorts their identity and their relationships with colleagues under the current neoliberal regulation of the sector. Through analysing the qualitative data, this thesis will explore the impact of the assumption that women are the traditional caregivers on practitioners themselves; how the patriarchy reproduces this norm by perpetuating misogyny and marginalisation; and how this notion affects women’s oppression and the consequent movements towards liberation. This thesis offers two conceptual and empirical contributions to the field of early childhood education research. Firstly, the theoretical underpinnings of Foucauldian and feminist theory with interpretive methodologies to explore women’s oppression in the early childhood workforce. Secondly, in exploring the role of gendered language and gossip in interactions between early childhood professionals, this thesis analyses the extent to which patriarchal language surrounding gossip is used to trivialise and devalue the female voice and probes the extent to which gossip is a form of power for women. This study contributes important perspectives on how current drives towards the ‘educationalization’ of early years settings can have harmful consequences for the professional development of early childhood educators, rather than raising the standards of childcare in the UK.

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女性气质，阶级和地位:女性早期劳动力的社会贬值

本文借鉴女性主义理论、解释方法和实践者的描述，回应了当代关于幼儿教育和劳动力性别性质的争论。该项目利用对11名早期从业人员的半结构化访谈数据，放大了从业人员在劳动力中的女性声音。利用围绕女性从厌女症中解放出来的交叉女权主义理论，以及福柯式的权力概念，该项目将突出女性气质在主要是工人阶级早期儿童从业者中的作用，以及它如何在当前新自由主义监管下扭曲他们的身份和他们与同事的关系。通过分析定性数据，本文将探讨女性是传统照顾者的假设对从业者本身的影响;父权制是如何通过延续厌女症和边缘化来复制这种规范的;以及这种观念如何影响女性受压迫以及随之而来的解放运动。本文从概念和实证两个方面对幼儿教育研究领域做出了贡献。首先，以福柯主义和女性主义理论为理论基础，用解释的方法探讨女性在幼儿劳动力中的压迫。其次，在探讨性别语言和八卦在幼儿专业人员互动中的作用时，本文分析了围绕八卦的父权语言在多大程度上被用来轻视和贬低女性的声音，并探讨了八卦在多大程度上是女性的一种权力形式。这项研究提供了重要的观点，说明当前的早期教育背景如何对早期儿童教育工作者的专业发展产生有害的影响，而不是提高英国儿童保育的标准。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Accounts of Chemical Research 化学-化学综合

CiteScore

31.40

自引率

1.10%

发文量

312

审稿时长

2 months

期刊介绍： Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance. Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.