DIFFERENT BUT EQUAL - DILEMMAS IN THE REFORM OF GIRLS EDUCATION

This article presents a critique of attempts to achieve equality for young women in education. It examines from a philosophical perspective some important issues in reform efforts which, it is argued, have received insufficient attention in educational theorising. These include the public-private dichotomy within education and attempts to increase young women's access to, and participation in, the male-dominated subject areas of mathematics, science and technology. These issues are then related to a significant Australian curriculum strategy, the gender inclusive curriculum and briefly to current proposals to achieve gender equity.