What about the girls? Sexism in schooling, policy reforms creating structural issues, and leaning into the feminisation of education and its transformative potential

This chapter adopts a critical stance, asking the question ‘what about the girls’? Taking the complex positionality of women in society as a standpoint, the chapter delves into the experiences of girls at school, their socialization and expectations of girlhood. Adopting both a historical and contemporary lens, the author explores books as agents of social control, and demonstrates the ways this has been extended to social media use today in ways which are exclusionary to girls. The author also examines policies addressing gender inequalities such as GIST and WISE, to consider the extent to which such policies can influence established gender norms. Feminist theory is woven into the debate, as the authors consider the intersectional lived realities of girls and young women today in relation to education and schooling. Lastly the chapter turns to what can be done to combat the sexism and misogyny that girls face in schools, turning once again to stories, but examining how engaging girls in the development of stories can provide feminist practice in schools for social transformation.