ABSTRACT
Within the somewhat uneven history of gender equity policy development over the past two decades, initiatives in girls’ schooling have developed steadfastly to the point that Australia now has a national policy on girls’ education-an education policy landmark in the rocky arena of Australian federalism. This chapter traces some of the influences which helped to shape-and modify-the National Policy for the Education of Girls in Australia (hereafter the National Policy) and speculates on the significance of this policy and its predecessors in effecting progressive changes in girls’ lives. In so doing, it examines the broader and contradictory policy context within which girls’ schooling policies have evolved and are being implemented. Our discussion traverses complex terrain, bearing in mind Kenway’s point that:
policies on gender and education do not exist or have their effects in isolation from other matters of policy, or from other social or administrative issues and processes…they should not be studied in isolation (1990, p. 7).
