The Education of Gender. The Gender of Education. Sociological Research in Italy

In this volume, we examine the relationship between gender and education with respect to the Italian context. The purpose is to forge a space for a progressively varied and dense area of interdisciplinary research on gender and education. As new gender studies fields are rapidly developing and becoming pivotal in the traditional social disciplines of sociology, educational studies, pedagogy, anthropology, we felt a greater need for a dynamic and intersectional examination that plots emerging definitions and debates while uncovering the critical complexities of gender and education in Italy. These include issues relating to: - the influence that family socialization and pre-school education have on both the formation of gender identities and the development of educational paths; - the female hegemony in the demography of the teaching staff and the repercussions of this numerical dominance for both male and female colleagues and students in terms of patterns and methodologies; - the reproduction of women and men’s traditional choices in fields of study such as STEM in the tracks of the Italian secondary education and university system; the barriers to a gender neutral vision of university career choices; the influence of parents’ educational attainment – especially that of mothers – on the educational achievements of younger men and women over time; - the growing importance of learning IT and digital skills for employability - especially for women; - the efficacy of experiments in coding, robotics and computational learning as part of innovative programs for pupils; - gender gaps in financial literacy and gender divides in more complex financial skills; - the social construction of gender categories in standardized assessments of adolescents’ competences. In adopting a critical approach to gender and education as the complex intertwining of these crucial issues, we recognize the importance of probing beyond the boundaries of specific domains in order to develop a more intersectional focus.