This article examines a group of Malawian teachers' views of the relationship between gender and achievement in order to highlight their participation in students' constructions of gendered identities, which in turn have an impact on achievement. Based on a survey with 35 teachers and interviews with 20 of them, the study on which this article is based shows how teachers position boys as high achievers and girls as low achievers. The teachers drew on a number of identity-related concepts that included sexuality, notions of femininity, differential gender socialization in the home, and self image to explain girls' underachievement. I discuss the implications of the findings and suggest how teachers can be encouraged to have a more positive attitude towards girls and their achievement.
Austria has a long tradition of gender equality policy measures in science, academia and research. Since the 1980s, a mix of measures has been successively introduced to promote excellent female scientists and academics, establish women’s and gender studies and remove the structural barriers for women. Accordingly, an increase in the share of women in all areas and functions in science, academia and research and the inclusion of gender studies in an increasing number of disciplines has been achieved in recent years. Despite this, the notion of the “scientific ideal” has remained almost unchanged, i.e. is still based on a typically male scientific career. This notion essentially considers a “good” scientist to be one who can devote his life totally to science and has no other restrictions on his time or commitments outside science. The question now is, what – and where – can we add to the existing policy mix to change this situation, i.e. to revise this notion of the “ideal”.
At a series of workshops, researchers, academics and other experts used creative methods to develop their visions of a gender-neutral landscape in science, academia and research in 2025. These visions were then used to identify relevant fields of action for initiating cultural change. This paper summarises the results of this discursive process and outlines how the process that began with this project could now be continued.
