Space and gender: Playing in early childhood education

The chapter aims to explore gender relations at the play space in kindergarten. By using feminist poststructuralism, it helps to reveal that the playing space promotes gender neutrality, but it strengthens the dualism idea of femininity and masculinity instead. This study is based on two months of focused ethnographic research in one of the kindergartens in Bandung, Indonesia. This research shows that the play space is often gendered. Children’s and teachers’ lack of gender awareness potentially excludes young children to access certain spaces just because of their sex.