Feminist research and educational policy

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Abstract
This article considers the potential contribution to equal educational opportunities policy of recent insights from feminist theory and research inspired by postmodernism. First, a general outline of this contribution is presented by means of a discussion of three twin concepts, which recent debates in feminist theory have centred on: socialization and construction, equality and difference, and diversity and generality. Second, three recent targets of Dutch educational policy are discussed from a feminist perspective: encouraging girls to choose mathematics and science, the introduction of the subject ‘care’ and the development of equal opportunities as an element of educational quality. It is argued that recent feminist insights are useful for analysing policy; they are particularly helpful in developing an approach to gender inequality in education which does not blame or stereotype girls.