Document

Invisibility and Binarism: How International School Policy Reinforces Educational Inequity for Gender and Sexual Minority Students Worldwide

About this Digital Document

Studies of gender and sexual minority (GSM) students' experiences in American schools have revealed social stigma and resulting mental health disparities, including suicidality, when compared with their heterosexual, cisgender peers. Further, protective factors, such as inclusive school policies, have been shown to alleviate this risk disparity. GSM students attending United States Department of State-supported schools overseas, however, remain unrepresented in the research. Little evidence has been published about the conditions for GSM students in these international schools. This study investigates whether similarly stigmatizing conditions exist in American schools outside of U.S. borders. Using policy discourse analysis, this study investigates the research question: How is educational inequity for gender and sexual minorities reinforced through American school policy abroad? Findings reveal that high school policy handbooks from a selection of twenty-five American-style international schools perpetuate a stigmatizing discourse through gender binarism and GSM invisibility. These two themes are illustrated by gendered language and labels, segregation and categorization by gender, gendered assumptions and generalizations, gendered expectations for appearance, policy silences, and GSM invisibility in harassment policies, activities and organizations, and school curriculum. The study's conceptual framework, based on minority stress theory and situated within the context of Bronfenbrenner's ecological model of development, posits that stigmatizing discourse fosters educational inequity for gender and sexual minorities worldwide. Recommendations for future research and policy implications to correct GSM stigma are provided in order to improve educational equity for international school students.
Full Title
Invisibility and Binarism: How International School Policy Reinforces Educational Inequity for Gender and Sexual Minority Students Worldwide
Contributor(s)
Thesis advisor: Kong, Peggy
Thesis advisor: Damaschke-Deitrick, Lisa
Thesis advisor: Wiseman, Alexander W.
Thesis advisor: Johnson, Nic L.
Publisher
Lehigh University
Date Issued
2020-01
Language
English
Type
Genre
Form
electronic documents
Department name
Comparative and International Education
Digital Format
electronic documents
Media type
Creator role
Graduate Student
Meadows, . E. (2020). Invisibility and Binarism: How International School Policy Reinforces Educational Inequity for Gender and Sexual Minority Students Worldwide (1–). https://preserve.lehigh.edu/lehigh-scholarship/graduate-publications-theses-dissertations/theses-dissertations/invisibility
Meadows, Emily. 2020. “Invisibility and Binarism: How International School Policy Reinforces Educational Inequity for Gender and Sexual Minority Students Worldwide”. https://preserve.lehigh.edu/lehigh-scholarship/graduate-publications-theses-dissertations/theses-dissertations/invisibility.
Meadows, Emily. Invisibility and Binarism: How International School Policy Reinforces Educational Inequity for Gender and Sexual Minority Students Worldwide. Jan. 2020, https://preserve.lehigh.edu/lehigh-scholarship/graduate-publications-theses-dissertations/theses-dissertations/invisibility.