Teaching About Women and Gender From a Transnational and Intersectional Feminist Perspective
Abstract
Teaching about women and gender in psychology has been transformed in response to the field’s leading frameworks (e.g., diversity, intersectionality). For example, the content of U.S. psychology of women and gender textbooks has evolved, from a focus on a privileged range of humanity and a reliance on laboratory studies of college students, to addressing real-life issues of a diversity of women and men. The content of U.S. psychology of women and gender textbooks is, however, still centered on U.S. women and men and without acknowledgment of the cultural specificity of U.S. experiences. It also lags behind in terms of another important framework, that is, a transnational perspective. This article features a review of analytics for teaching about women and gender from a transnational and intersectional feminist perspective in psychology. These analytics are that (a) all theories and research findings are culture-bound; (b) there is variability in gender equality within and across countries; (c) historical perspectives on gender are critical in the psychology of women and gender class; (d) an examination of transnational systems and forces is necessary in the psychology of women and gender class; and (e) women’s experiences are not the same everywhere because of intersectionalities and context, but are similar as related to patriarchy being a transnationally dominant system. Sample practices and resources to teach about women and gender based on these transnational and intersectional feminist analytics are described.
Impact and Implications
Achieving gender equality and empowering all women is one of the 2030 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and is consistent with principles expressed in many psychology’s codes of ethics, including the International Union of Psychological Science’s Universal Declaration of Ethical Principles for Psychologists. A transnational perspective on gender equality and women’s empowerment is, however, not part of psychology’s core curriculum. This article is about teaching about women and gender from a transnational and intersectional feminist perspective—a perspective that highlights transnational forces and systems, contexts, and intersectionalities of identity and power.
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