Educating Toward Resistance

Abstract

This article explores how the connections between women educators and female students can be critical for the development of a liberating resistance in both. The author addresses the loss of self-esteem, voice, and authority in girls documented in recent research and then reports on a retreat process designed for women educators in Shaker Heights, Ohio and in Boston, Massachusetts. These retreat experiences build community and promote resistance to the educational and cultural messages that silence the voices and negate the knowledge of girls and women. This work has resulted in changes in relationships and educational practice with girls and women colleagues. Thus by fostering healthy resistance, this work with women educators serves as a political intervention in the education of girls.

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