J Youth Adolescence (2017) 46:2073–2077
DOI 10.1007/s10964-017-0709-1
BOOK REVIEW
Judith Gill, Katharine Esson, and Rosalina Yuen: A Girl’s
Education: Schooling and the Formation of Gender, Identities, and
Future Visions
London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, 212 pp, ISBN 978-1-137-52486-7
Alexis Koomler1
Received: 10 June 2017 / Accepted: 12 June 2017 / Published online: 20 June 2017
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2017
The struggles of growing up female have been documented
for decades and are nothing new in today’s society. Women
have had to overcome major societal obstacles, such as the
right to vote and a right to education. Yet, that right remains
limited, even though education can largely determine
whether a person develops into what they wish to be.
Expanding on this proposition, Judith Gill, Katharine
Esson, and Rosalina Yuen argue in their book A Girl’s
Education: Schooling and the Formation of Gender, Iden-
tities, and Future Visions that education is crucial to ado-
lescent girls’ development and shapes her into the woman
she will become. Their book aims to identify the core issues
facing adolescent girls in today’s world, and how the edu-
cation system has failed them, creating many of these
issues. The authors examine empirical evidence from stu-
dies on gender and schooling and the theories relating to
that research; and they also look toward the future and the
implications it holds as adolescent girls make decisions
regarding the rest of their lives. The authors’ purpose is to
present a broad overview of the current state of adolescent
girls and their education, and offer insight as to how this
could be changed or improved to create more effective
educational paths.
Chapter one begins with the discussion of how the role of
girls has changed from the 20th to the 21st century. The
idea that girls were born to be helpers, followers, and
mothers, and that boys were the born leaders and bread-
winners is long gone across the developed world. Girls are
* Alexis Koomler
akoomler@umail.iu.edu
1
Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA
now stellar academic students, hold high power positions in
all fields, and have shed the image that they are less com-
petent in school or the workforce than men. The authors
expertly recap the history of the challenges girls have faced
in trying to get an education, and of women entering the
workforce because of World War II. The framework is laid
for the rest of the book with a section discussing how the
current state of education for young women affects their
lives and place in society after school ends. One quote that
stood out in this discussion depicted the conflict young
women are facing: “It’s pretty hard being a girl nowadays…
It’s like you have to be everything and nothing all at once,
without knowing which you need more of” (Gill et al. 2016,
p. 5). The authors identify the subjects of the book and their
studies, young women they call girls in a non-connotational
context, age 12 and over, in high school and in the process
of physical maturity and making their own life decisions.
The chapter then provides numerous facts regarding girls
and schooling, and reveals how these numbers relate to the
struggle girls are facing. While the authors use this concrete
evidence to support their statements, this tactic seems
somewhat redundant in the grand scheme of the book. The
authors keep telling the reader what they are going to pre-
sent in this book, and how it relates to education, but they
do so too repetitively and present an overabundance of
information to lead to the main points they are going to
make. The key component one would gather from the first
chapter is that the authors believe that a quality educational
environment is necessary for optimal development and
learning.
In chapter two, the authors aim to explain the ways in
which one learns about gender, how it has been researched,
and how girls (and boys) “just know” their gender and the
expectations that go along with it. For example, little girls in
2074
English-speaking countries view the color pink as their
“favorite” and highly desirable. Toy manufacturers capita-
lize on this, and make many “girl toys” in pink. The chapter
then examines how prominent theorists have attempted to
explain the paradigm of gender in the Western world and
how it has changed into what it is today. They discuss how
gender identity has evolved to represent a variety of
meanings to different people, and how adolescent girls no
longer view their identity just as “daughter, wife, mom” and
how girls now view themselves as “college student, lawyer,
traveler”, etc. The chapter mentions how social media has
aided in this, showing a world of possibilities to adolescents
regarding their lives. Although the plethora of choices now
available to young people seems like a positive, the authors
also note it can create uncertainty and place added stress on
adolescents. Because now there is now SO MUCH pressure
to choose and to make the right decisions, it can be a
negative for adolescents to choose for themselves without
the guidance of institutions like families or society. By
showing how the positive and negative aspects of adoles-
cents control their lives is an excellent way to show the
turmoil many go through at this difficult and defining time
in their lives.
The other concept chapter two discusses is the impor-
tance of relationships and connections to adolescent girls:
“being connected has been theorized as a central feature of
girl’s schooling experience” (Gill et al. 2016, p 39). A girl’s
sense of self grows through her relationships with her
female peers. Schoolage girls are often seen in tight knit
groups of 4 or 5, all talking among each other, while boys
typically associate with a larger friend group and have more
“open” connections to various groups of people. Even with
the emphasis on self-individualization that dominates today,
girls continue to be part of groups, to attract friendship,
while being personally desirable.
Lastly, the chapter mentions how girls have surpassed
males in academic achievement, with higher graduation
rates, higher grades, and better testing scores. Despite this,
there is still a male bias where they are celebrated for all of
their success while females’ successes are often downplayed
or not as recognized. The authors suggest it is up to the
teachers to change this, and to create an environment in
which all academic success is recognized and celebrated
regardless of gender. This chapter provided an abundance of
information regarding several topics and viewpoints on
gender, relationships, and schooling differences. While all
of these were explained in detail, it was almost too much
information packed into one chapter, and one might feel like
the writing was scattered with the jumping between each
topic.
Chapter three is about girls’ education. It begins by
talking about the educational inequality girls were receiving
and how it began to be recognized. In the late 20th century,
J Youth Adolescence (2017) 46:2073–2077
it was realized that girls were having a different educational
experience than boys, and schools were not allowing girls to
reach their potential or preparing them to have active roles
in society. The chapter looks at research done through large
scale quantitative survey studies. A fundamental shift of
thinking appeared in the 1980s and 1990s, as more women
entered the workforce. The authors recognize that: “girls no
longer as short-term paid employees for the interim period
between leaving school and getting married, but rather
began to think about having extended earning power and
careers in their own right” (Gill et al. 2016, p. 63). Parents
began to support their daughters in having careers, and
demanded that school provide girls with courses they would
need to succeed in going to a university and having a career.
This push happened earlier in the United Kingdom and
Australia than in the United States.
The chapter then delves into research findings on the
changes in the educational landscape for girls. School
completion is first examined. Previously, boys were much
more likely to complete secondary school than were girls, a
finding that varied by such factors as race and socio-
economic background. Now, across English speaking
countries, girls are far more likely to complete school than
boys; and girls also are more likely to have higher grades
and to attend college. Curriculum was another research
topic discussed in the chapter. Textbooks and school
materials were showing males in lead positions, and females
as followers. Girls and women were often depicted as doing
domestic chores while the men had “real jobs”. This finding
led to call to urging curriculum writers to be more gender
inclusive, and newer materials are now less gender-biased.
Subject choice was another researched area. Previously,
there were more males enrolled in math and science cour-
ses, and females dominated the arts and humanities subjects.
Now, students are often able to choose their subjects once
they are in high school, and enrollment in these subjects has
somewhat evened up. Regardless, female students are now
able to choose if they want to take a lot of math courses, and
doing so is deemed acceptable. Classroom treatment was
also researched. It was found that teachers spent more time
interacting with boys, and boys were taken more seriously
by teachers and administrators. While this sounds dis-
heartening, it was also found that boys were more likely
than girls to call out answers and ask questions, and girls
would turn to their friends for help. All of this research led
to a large education reform in the 1990s. It led to creating
school policies to ensure gender equality, sexist behavior
was identified and recognized as unacceptable, and schools
aimed to provide the highest quality education to both
sexes.
The chapter closes by touching on the subject of all girls
schools. The existence of these schools is highly debated,
because research has shown that, academically, females did
J Youth Adolescence (2017) 46:2073–2077
not perform higher than at regular schools, but the reported
level of self-confidence and engagement in math and sci-
ence fields were higher. It also has been found that the use
of single-sex schools varies by social class, with wealthier
families sending daughters to these girls schools. Single sex
schools are still prevalent in English speaking countries, but
the number of them has diminished in recent years, as girls’
academic success is not dependent on single sex schools but
on a multitude of factors. The authors have presented very
informative information and research in chapter three. The
chapter was easily understood, and it is to be noted that the
authors did not just throw out facts to the reader. The
information was sectionalized, and concluded with solu-
tions to each finding.
Chapter four is titled “The Balancing Act” and considers
the contradicting messages girls receive while growing up
and the balancing act adolescence becomes regarding young
women’s body image. From an early age, girls are bom-
barded with contradictory messages: you should be pretty
and appealing to men, as well as feminine and a good wife
and mother, but you should also have a strong career and be
determined and go after what you want. As one can ima-
gine, this causes feelings of conflict and confusion among
girls. The chapter used research from a study done on high
school aged girls in Sydney, Australia, interviewing girls
from two separate schools ages 14–17. The interviews
regarding body image are first discussed. It is no secret that
adolescence is a time of physical change, as girls undergo
body changes that turn them into women. It was found that
girls who participated in a sport viewed their bodies as
competent instruments, and had a higher level of bodily
acceptance, as well as describe themselves in positive terms.
On the other hand, many girls viewed their bodies as pro-
jects to be worked on, and expressed disapproval in their
body. In fact, 85% of the girls voiced some dissatisfaction
regarding their bodies. Some viewed themselves as too fat,
others wanted to change certain areas like their thighs.
Adolescent girls are hit with messages not only from the
media about what their bodies should look like, but also
receive commentary from friends, family, and coaches. This
pressure leaves these young, impressionable girls unsup-
ported and puts them at risk for eating disorders such as
anorexia. The authors do a fantastic job in this part of the
chapter as they truly capture the struggles adolescent girls
face regarding body image and self-confidence without
sounding patronizing. The use of the study done on real
girls is very eye-opening and real, as it provides the reader
true emotions behind the facts being presented. This chapter
particularly would be an excellent one for males to read, as
many may be unaware that their comments on women’s
bodies have a profound impact. Given that the study dis-
cussed was done in Australia, it would be intriguing if the
authors had included a similar study on adolescent girls in a
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non-Western country, such as India, to find out if body
image issues on adolescent girls is a universal concern and
to learn if girls in different parts of the world were facing
the same or different issues regarding self-image. It would
also be of interest to gather more data on how social media
specifically has changed how girls view themselves. One
would theorize that it has had a large impact on adding to
the balancing act young women must perform to be satisfied
with themselves, and be what society thinks they should be
at the same time. The authors should consider adding more
research in this area in similar works about girls.
How girls create their learner identities and understand
their roles as learners as they become valuable people in the
world is the focal point of chapter five. To investigate this
development, the authors conducted a study on two differ-
ent all girls schools in an Australian city. The study centered
on “the ways in which the girls experience making choices
about study pathways and eventual careers in terms of their
emerging self-awareness and the different kinds of support
from significant others in their lives” (Gill et al. 2016, p.
125). The girls in the study were middle class and their
parents paid fees for them to attend the school, hoping that
their daughters would receive a “good education” and be
admitted to a university. Data was gathered through two
surveys given as the girls moved through their high school
years. Then, 18 girls were interviewed about their schooling
so the survey data could be further explored. One major
finding was that, by year 10, the majority of girls had barely
started to think about their lives after school, and the
thought of making these important decisions added stress to
their lives. Year 10 is also where the girls began to treat
education as an individualist matter instead of a collective
one, and consider how their choices in school would affect
them later in creating a career path. The study also looked at
how girls come to make these imperative decisions, finding
that many factors go into it. Socioeconomic background,
parents’ educational level, and input from teachers, friends,
and family members were all found to influence the deci-
sions girls made for themselves. Teachers were especially
important, as the subjects went to them as “key informants
as the girls seek to assemble knowledge of themselves as
people with learning capacities” (Gill et al. 2016, p. 140).
Overall, the study presented in chapter 5 showcases the
process that adolescent girls face in making decisions that
will lead them to further education and career paths. Many
readers may not have been previously aware of the concept
of a learning identity, which the authors, by showing how it
applies to a specific study, make a concrete rather than
abstract concept.
“Post School Pathways and Girls’ Imagined Futures” is
the title of chapter six and looks at the ways that adolescent
girls regard and make decisions about their future rela-
tionships, careers, and prospective motherhood. The authors
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state that it is now up to an adolescent girl and her capacity
to see herself as independent and no longer reliant on
school, family, or peers to help her make these choices. The
authors also conclude that future visions are always affected
by previous experiences. As one might imagine, girls from
higher class social backgrounds who have been exposed to
more possibilities are more likely to have higher achieve-
ments, as well as more opportunities for future schooling
and careers.
The choice of going to college/university is not even
seen as a “choice” in English speaking countries, and is seen
as inevitable, if a member of the middle class. So, the big
choices lie in what girls will study in college and decide as a
career choice, and what they will choose to do after that,
specifically regarding having children in the future. One
interesting point that is discussed is the still prevalent
gender gap of what is being chosen to study in secondary
education. Certain fields, such as teaching and nursing are
still female dominated, while male enrollment is higher in
classes related to majors in science, technology, engineer-
ing, and math fields, such as engineering, math, and tech-
nology. This is a paradoxical situation because, while girls
are told and know they have the power to choose “to be”
anything they desire to be, a gender gap is still noticeable
when it comes to workforce composition. Many girls also
report not viewing themselves as having positions of power
in the future, and see themselves in lesser roles, most often
compared to men. Today, more women than ever hold
prominent and powerful positions in an array of fields, and
it is to be noted that this is changing the landscape for
women everywhere. The authors send the message that girls
should not be afraid to choose any career or go for any
position they want, a message that likely resonates with
young women everywhere.
The chapter then discusses the domestic aspect adoles-
cent girls report themselves envisioning. Most of the time,
but not always, having a partner is central to the girls’ future
vision, always male in this study. The most important
reported quality in their partner? Equality. The response
from the subjects called for an equal male partner to split the
housework and child rearing. Women also expect to con-
tribute equally to their family income, aspiring to have a
successful career. Motherhood was another highly debated
subject among the girls. Many girls voiced their concerns
over being able to have the career they want and having
children. They want to be able to work and establish
themselves, but also not have children “too late”, a concept
pushed by the media that women should not have children
when they are “too old”. Overall, children and babies were
mentioned frequently by the young women, but none of
them considered motherhood inevitable or guaranteed, and
all recognized the consequences their career could face if
they had children, mostly due to the rising cost of childcare.
J Youth Adolescence (2017) 46:2073–2077
This view of thinking is an outstanding shift from the
mindset of just 10–20 years ago that being a mother and
domestic housewife was the pinnacle of female fulfillment.
This chapter was the most engaging as a reader. The
responses to the survey questions used were intriguing, as
they showed evidence of how much the female viewpoint
has evolved and continues to change as society comes to
terms with women doing more than being homemakers. The
discussion in this chapter could constitute its own book, as
the theme of how young women picture and plan their
futures is a topic that is always going to have something
new to add in today’s constantly changing world.
The book is wrapped up by summarizing the core theme:
that the world of education for girls has changed, with many
added improvements, but there is still much to be worked
on and desired. The book then recaps each of its chapters,
reiterating the main ideas of each that were previously
discussed. The authors conclude by voicing some of their
hopes for the future including adults who work with ado-
lescent girls, as well as parents, help girls build confidence
in themselves by not perpetuating negative stereotypes
regarding girls’ looks, that there be more open discussion
and realization around classroom inequality and gender
bias, and that curriculum is reviewed by school leaders to
provide a solid education for every student and prepare
them for education after college and to be successful in any
career choice. It is difficult to overstate the contribution of
this book. Researchers who study adolescents’ educational
achievement now highlight well issues of racial/ethnic
diversity (see Bottiani et al. 2016; Diemer et al. 2016; Tang
et al. 2016), socioeconomic status (Benner et al. 2016;
Frostick et al. 2016) and social relationships (Brook and
Willoughby 2015). This book returns the discussion to
gender issues. A Girl’s Education likely will be an enligh-
tening book for many readers, opening their eyes to an
abundance of issues still affecting adolescent girls and their
schooling today. Schooling is a crucial element of adoles-
cence, and this book provides opportunities for further
discussion regarding the issues young women continue to
face in the world of education today.
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Conflict of Interest The author declare that he has no competing
interests.
References
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J Youth Adolescence (2017) 46:2073–2077
Bottiani, J. H., Bradshaw, C. P., & Mendelson, T. (2016). Inequality in
Black and White high school students’ perceptions of school
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