Teaching About Women and Gender From a Transnational and Intersectional Feminist Perspective

Abstract

Teaching about women and gender in psychology has been transformed in response to the field’s leading frameworks (e.g., diversity, intersectionality). For example, the content of U.S. psychology of women and gender textbooks has evolved, from a focus on a privileged range of humanity and a reliance on laboratory studies of college students, to addressing real-life issues of a diversity of women and men. The content of U.S. psychology of women and gender textbooks is, however, still centered on U.S. women and men and without acknowledgment of the cultural specificity of U.S. experiences. It also lags behind in terms of another important framework, that is, a transnational perspective. This article features a review of analytics for teaching about women and gender from a transnational and intersectional feminist perspective in psychology. These analytics are that (a) all theories and research findings are culture-bound; (b) there is variability in gender equality within and across countries; (c) historical perspectives on gender are critical in the psychology of women and gender class; (d) an examination of transnational systems and forces is necessary in the psychology of women and gender class; and (e) women’s experiences are not the same everywhere because of intersectionalities and context, but are similar as related to patriarchy being a transnationally dominant system. Sample practices and resources to teach about women and gender based on these transnational and intersectional feminist analytics are described.