On Overcoming Sexism in Schooling: To Marginalize or Mainstream

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Abstract
Single-sex schooling, in some form, is offered by many feminists as one strategy for overcoming sexist educational practices. The purpose of this paper is to indicate flaws in the evidence, the logic and the politics of this ‘strategy’. The empirical evidence in favour of single-sex schooling is of questionable value. Furthermore the strategy is limited because it focuses almost exclusively on changing the attitude and behaviour of girls and shows little potential for changing teachers, the curriculum or boys. The final section of the paper provides a less optimistic scenario of the effects of single-sex settings than is generally offered and, finally, a more appropriate focus of activity is suggested for those who wish to improve the educational experiences of girls.

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