Sweden has a longstanding reputation as an egalitarian country with a narrow gender gap. But a national debate about gender equa

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问题     Sweden has a longstanding reputation as an egalitarian country with a narrow gender gap. But a national debate about gender equality has revealed substantial dissatisfaction, with some Swedes feeling it has gone too far. Rousing controversy now is the issue of gender pedagogy, a concept that emerged in the early 2000s and typically involves challenging gender stereotypes in learning material and in avoiding treating male and female pupils in a stereotypical manner. But what has sharpened the debate in Sweden has been the argument that schools should also be gender neutral, giving children the opportunity to define themselves as neither male nor female if they wish.
    Kristina Henkel, a gender expert specializing in equality in schools, disputes the argument that gender pedagogy and neutrality are being foisted on Swedes. " Sweden has a long tradition of working with equality and this has had strong support among politicians," she says, and adds that " the question of gender neutrality, or of everyone having equal rights despite their gender, has also been driven by activists at the grassroots level. "
    But Elise Claeson, a columnist and a former equality expert at the Swedish Confederation of Professions, disagrees. "I have long participated in debates with gender pedagogues and they act like an elite," she says. "They tend to be well-educated, live in big cities, and have contacts in the media, and they clearly despise traditional people. "
    Ms. Claeson has been a vocal critic of the word "hen," a new, gender-neutral pronoun that was recently included in the online version of the National Encyclopedia. Around the same time, Sweden’s first gender-neutral children’s book was published. The author, Jesper Lundqvist, uses hen throughout his book, completely avoiding han and hon, the Swedish words for him and her.
    Claeson believes that the word hen can be harmful to young children because, she says, it can be confusing for them to receive contradicting messages about their genders in school, at home, and in society at large. "It is important to have your gender confirmed to you as a child. This does not limit children; it makes them confident about their identity. . . Children ought to be allowed to mature slowly and naturally. As adults we can choose to expand and change our gender identities. "
    Last fall, nearly 200 teachers gathered in Stockholm to discuss how to avoid " traditional gender patterns" in schools. The conference was part of a research project run by the National Agency for Education and supported by the Delegation for Equality in Schools. " I work with these issues in Finland and Norway and it is clear to me that they have been inspired by the Swedish preschool — and school curricula," says Ms. Henkel, the gender expert. But Henkel also insists that gender equality is a rights issue that cannot simply be left to the state to handle. Instead, she says, it requires the active involvement of citizens. "Rights are not something we receive and then don’t have to fight for. This is about a redistribution of power, and for that initiative and action are needed, not just fancy legislation. "
Which of the following statements about Paragraph 1 is true?

选项 A、The credit for the narrow gender gap in Sweden goes to the success of gender pedagogy.
B、Gender pedagogy mainly focuses on avoiding the hidden discrimination against women in children’s learning material.
C、Gender neutrality can be interpreted as an initiative to avoid teaching children in a gender stereotypical manner.
D、Sweden has made great efforts to counter gender stereotypes in schools.

答案D

解析 本题还是考查对第一段内容的理解。[A]错误,第一段第一句话就提到“瑞典素来享有性别差异微小的平等国家的美誉”,性别教学法活动作为2000年左右才开始提出的一个概念,对于性别差距的缩小起到了一定的作用,但不能说瑞典性别差距微小,完全应该归功于此项活动。[B]错误,第一段中明确指出,所谓的性别教学法(gender pedagogy)指的是在教材中避免性别成见,在教学过程中避免用因循守旧的观点对待男女学生。因此,它针对的并不仅仅是对于女性的歧视,也包括对于男性的根深蒂固的观点。[C]张冠李戴,将gender pedagogy的内容说成是gender neutrality的内容。性别中立是性别教学法的一种较为激进的演化,要求学校不再给学生灌输任何关于性别的概念,而让学生按照自己的意愿选择自己的性别。[D]正确,第一段提到的种种概念,不管是gender pedagogy还是gender neutrality都是瑞典为了消除学校教育中存在的性别歧视做出的尝试和努力。
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