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. "
In paragraph 3 ,Elise Claeson mainly refutes the idea that______.

选项 A、school should incorporate the concept of gender neutrality into daily classes
B、writers should use gender-neutral pronouns rather than gender denoting pronouns
C、gender pedagogy and gender neutrality are supported by the wide public in Sweden
D、only under the leadership of elites can the gender equality campaign achieve success

答案C

解析 文章第一段提到,虽然瑞典在男女平等方面取得了巨大的进步,但是很多民众都认为现在的男女平等运动有些太过头了,尤其是现在在某些学校中提出的性别中立理念。但是在文章第二段中,作者提到了性别专家克里斯蒂娜·汉高的观点。她的主要观点是:性别教育学并没有被强加到瑞典国民头上。她认为,瑞典是一个有着悠久的平等理念的国家,性别中立这个概念以及相关的运动都不是政客或者活动家强加于民众头上的,而是由草根民众自发地推动的(been driven by activists at the grassroots level)。在第三段中,另一位专家伊莉斯·克拉松又反驳了克里斯蒂娜·汉高的观点。她说,推动性别教学法和性别中立论的都是一些社会精英,他们提出的理念远远不能代表社会主流观点。因此,本题的解题关键就是要分清楚每位学者的理论观点,他们主要批驳的对象。正确答案应该选[C]。
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