ABSTRACT
Three of the standard arguments used to invalidate the concept of gender-free education will be summarized and critically assessed: first, the argument that gender roles are biologically determined and hence inevitable. Second, the argument that gender roles are necessary to biological reproduction and hence to the survival of the species. Third, the argument that gender roles are necessary for the replication of cultural values. Male dominance is seen to be a logical outgrowth of ineradicable sex differences. Many women experience a "double-bind" that emanates from the conflicting messages prescribed by the female sex role and regard their lives as intolerably restricted by the traditional sex roles. For those who mean by family the traditional patriarchal, heterosexual unit, the school is perceived as one of the cornerstones on which the very possibility of a desirable social structure rests.
