Activism and Community Engagement to Promote Girls and Women: To Have Voice and Choice

• In Event: 35.058 - Women Leading for Social Justice Across P–20 Contexts

Abstract

A growing body of research evidence indicates the important role that dialogue can have in generating a sense of agency and ownership for women within decision-making processes. Similarly, research investigating youth consultation through the sharing of voices is rapidly expanding and many researchers espouse the benefits of involving young people in school decision-making processes and curriculum design (Lodge, 2005; McGregor, 2007; Rudduck & Flutter, 2004; Thomson & Gunter, 2005). These bodies of literature frequently exist within mutually exclusive realms and an interrogation of this literature may provide insight into how the voices of young women are positioned within these growing numbers of research publications. The literature canvasing the concept of voice, and, more specifically, the voices of young women, reveals a wide scope in the ways that voice is interpreted and represented. This has resulted in the efforts of those researching to understand “what voice is” and how the concept can be best utilized to engage young women as active citizens within their schools and communities being neither clear-cut nor well defined.

The purpose of this paper is three fold. First, it examines the role that “voice” can have in engaging young women as committed global citizens. Integral to this is the interrogation of the concept of “voice.” Holdsworth (2004) advocates that student voice should contribute to the why of learning as well as the how and what, and must not result in what he calls “trivial exercises in temporary engagement” (p. 7). This paper makes the case for shifting away from “voice” initiatives and encouraging opportunities to develop youth-adult partnerships within which meaningful dialogue can take place.

Second, although Denner, Meyer and Bean (2005) draw our attention to potential benefits of youth-adult partnerships in female leadership development as a way of addressing the unique challenges faced by young women, research and guidance which focuses on how to create authentic partnerships and involve students as active participants in school decision-making is sparse (Mitra, 2008b). This paper provides practical examples of partnerships in action. Processes for developing these partnerships are shared and the associated challenges are outlined. The use of co-constructive pedagogies within learning communities is examined as a vehicle for the formation of democratic spaces in which young women can share in decision-making processes.

Last, the obligations for those leaders working alongside young women in both educational and community settings are highlighted. Through the provision of established strategies this paper provides supportive approaches addressing the call for future action in the areas associated with developing a sense of agency amongst young women.

Author

• Rachel McNae, University of Waikato