Author Description

This dissertation, "Making Gender: Schools, Families and Young Girls in Hong Kong" by Anita Kit-wa, Chan,, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of thesis entitled "Making Gender: Schools, Families and Young Girls in Hong Kong" submitted by Chan Kit-wa, Anita for the degree of Master of Philosophy at The University of Hong Kong in July 1996 Abstract Education is increasingly recognized as perpetuating gender differences and inequalities, but its relationships with gender are still under-researched or simplified, in particular the variable and contradictory educational outcomes and experiences of women. This study is an attempt to explore the making of gender by schools, families, and young girls in Hong Kong and examine the complexities, dynamics, and contradictions involved. Although school lives are in the main structured around gender, in which men and women will have different positions and experiences, the actual making of gender and the type of femininity required vary among different types of schools. Institutional contexts vary, as do their gender practices and ideals. Schools, varying in terms of their banding positions and student compositions, are found to construct variable types of femininities via their formal curriculum, extra-curricular activities; disciplinary controls, authority structures, differentiation practices, and social interactions. The four types identified are: achievement-oriented, all-rounded, and lady-like females in band 1 girls'' schools; achievement-oriented but secondary females in a band 1 mixed school; industrious and supplementary females in band 2