Resistance to gender education: a case study of a kindergarten in Italy

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-01-2021-0027
• Published date: 21 June 2022
• Date: 21 June 2022
• Pages: 1243-1261
• Subject Matter: HR & organizational behaviour,Employment law,Diversity,equality,inclusion
• Author: Silvia De Simone,Jessica Pileri

Resistance to gender education:

a case study of a kindergarten

in Italy

Silvia De Simone

Universita degli Studi di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy, and

Jessica Pileri

University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy

Abstract

Purpose –Despite repeated attempts to implement gender education in schools, numerous forms of resistance

still persist, maintaining the current gender order, especially in Italy. Thus, in this paper, the authors focus on

the practices of resistance opposed to gender education in kindergarten.

Design/methodology/approach –This study takes a qualitative approach, and data collection was

conducted using ethnographic observations, a focus group and an in-depth interview. The authors used critical

discourse analysis (cf: Fairclough’s three-dimensional model).

Findings –As per our findings, teachers’resistance is attributed to “hegemonic masculinity”and

“essentialism”. In the case of “hegemonic masculinity”, the discourses emphasise that male feminisation is a

threat and female masculinisation is harmless. On the “essentialist”side, teachers’discourses focus on the

segregation of genders that justify naturalised gender differences.

Practical implications –This study emphasises the need for specific training for figures as important and

authoritative as teachers. In addition to the training of teachers who currently work in kindergarten, it is also

necessary to address the issue at the institutional level, adding to the university courses the teaching of specific

subjects related to gender.

Social implications –This paper offers causes for reflection on a profession that has profound implications

in our society and about the power of resistance to implementing gender education. The implications are

discussed.

Originality/value –Different data sources are used simultaneously to disclose discursive practices of

resistance to gender education in Italy.

Keywords Resistance, Hegemonic masculinity, Essentialism, Kindergarten, Teachers

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Early childhood education is particularly powerful in creating the conditions for building

gender power relationships (e.g. Hellman, 2012;Sumsion, 2000) and promoting a binary view

of gender (e.g. Xu, 2019).

For more than 50 years, researchers have studied how young children learn about gender

(e.g. Bem, 1981;Bussey and Bandura, 1999;Miller et al., 2009). At the age of 18–24 months,

babies begin to absorb gender processing messages from many sources (e.g. home, care

settings) (e.g. Witt, 1997;Zoslus et al., 2009), and at around 3–4 years of age, they learn about

gender identity, specific stronger attributes and rules and expectations about gender roles

(e.g. Martin, 2004;Halim and Ruble, 2010). During infancy, children discover gender by

observing the activities and behaviours of adults (Witt, 1997;Zosuls et al., 2011). Teachers are

adults who are significant to their pupils (Tatar and Da’as, 2012); thus, their gender

representations can influence gender construction in their students (Riley, 2014). Teachers

who view gender roles as somehow natural and innate may limit students’ambitions and

achievement (Frawley, 2005). Therefore, this paper discusses how to implement gender

education in schools, considering the practices of resistance and hegemony that oppose

gender education in kindergarten. In this study, in agreement with Butler (1990), we consider

Resistance to

gender

education

1243

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https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 28 January 2021

Revised 29 March 2022

13 May 2022

Accepted 26 May 2022

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 41 No. 8, 2022

pp. 1243-1261

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-01-2021-0027

gender to be a social construction maintained through performativity. The principal purpose

of this paper is to explore the gender resistance present in teachers at a kindergarten in Italy.

Understanding such resistance can also be useful in light of the education of gender non-

conforming children. Teachers, however, could be decisive for change (e.g. Hattie, 2012). The

paper focuses on how teachers/educators relate to children regarding gender roles, in a social

system of fundamental importance for development in the first years of life, i.e. the

educational/school environment of early childhood, wherein the ideas of the wider society

regarding gender roles are amplified and strengthened in a more concrete form than are

present in the external world (Delamont, 1980).

Gender, hegemony and resistance are widely examined concepts (Connell, 1987;Hearn,

2004), referring to a specific symbolic order that often relegates women to subordinate

positions (Connell, 1987). Hegemonic power relations often contribute to the reproduction and

maintenance of the gender order, which is deemed difficult to resist (Lazar, 2007).

In this paper, we use the concept of resistance as a strategy designed to preserve a

particular dominant social order (see Lombardo and Mergaert, 2013). In particular, reference

is made to the model of Mergaert and Lombardo (2014), which underscores the existence of

individual and institutional resistance. Individual resistance can be defined as the resistance

expressed through the action or inertia of an individual to oppose changes in gender roles,

whereas institutional resistance consists of actions derived from a collective mobilisation

aimed at countering gender education and changing gender roles while maintaining the

extant gender order (Lombardo and Mergaert, 2016). In particular, resistance can be

interpreted as a continuum that goes from denial to repression and from non-recognition to

dismantling (Flood et al., 2018). The distinction between individual and institutional

resistance is not simple to explicate in practice (Verge et al., 2017). In Italy, institutional

resistance is stronger than in other countries due to particular context. In a context like the

Italian one wherein, historically, the role of moral and ethical education has been entrusted to

the Catholic religion (Ginsborg, 2013), this type of resistance is very strong. The main obstacle

to gender education derives from the Church and can be traced back to the so-called “gender

ideology”. The term “gender ideology”was coined in the early 2000s in some texts written

under the aegis of the Pontifical Council for the Family with the aim of “labelling, distorting

and delegitimising what is produced in the field of gender”(Garbagnoli, 2014, p. 250). The

Church blames the fact that the gender ideology derives directly from radical feminism that

wants to annul the differences in nature between men and women, without considering that

these differences are naturalised (and not natural) because they function to maintain a certain

hierarchy of social power (Butler, 1990; Delphy, 2013; Scott, 2013). This instrumental use of

the concept of “gender ideology”by the Church is based on scientifically unfounded

arguments (Associazione Italiana di Psicologia, 2015) and aims to maintain the extant gender

order. The Catholic Church affects the dominant discourses in Italian society and conditions

the political processes that obstruct initiatives on gender equality (Priola et al., 2018). This is

evident if we consider the reactions to political decisions concerning the school and

educational field in Italy. For example, Law n.107/2015 (Gazzetta Ufficiale, 2015) has issued

directives aimed at combating gender inequalities by using the tool of education. These

measures have prompted reactions from concerned people who have publicly disseminated

statements opposing these initiatives. Indeed, as reported by Cardellini (2017), one example is

the reaction of Famiglia Cristiana (a famous Italian periodical), which published some

suggestions to help parents reject the “gender theory”in schools by suggesting that they

check their children’s notebooks daily and preparing them to face the “theory of gender”.

Thus, gender education in the Italian context must not only propose training projects and

interventions aimed at promoting gender equality but also address false accusations

(Cardellini, 2017). The Italian case is particularly interesting as the Catholic Church holds a

strong influence, which impacts representations of masculinity and femininity within the

EDI

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