Gender

![CDATA[In Australia and in other industrialised countries, the education of boys is seen to be in crisis. Beginning around the mid 1990s, policy and research on gender issues shifted decisively away from girls and girls' issues to examine what was going wrong with the boys (Weaver-Hightower, 2003). In Britain and Australia especially, the media furore about the plight of our boys has continued for almost a decade. Over this same period politicians have announced substantial funds for new educational programs and the attention of researchers has increasingly turned towards examining boys' issues (Arnot, David & Weiner, 1999; Rowan et al., 2002). The boy-advocates have presented their case so passionately that those whose reading does not go beyond media sources and popular literature could be forgiven for believing that our schools are organisations specifically designed to help girls rather than boys. Writers such as Biddulph (1998) and Sommers (2000), for example, argue that our schools are 'feminised' institutions and actually disadvantage boys and harm our young men. In this chapter, these assertions are examined and alternative arguments about gender, educational practice, and the role of gender policies are developed.]]