ABSTRACT
How are constructions of femininity and attendant notions of feminism being produced in different ways in different places around the world? And how can we begin to understand this complicated global process? In seeking to both answer these questions and more broadly understand the links between gender, class and race in the context of contemporary globalisation, I will use in-depth interviews and focus groups conducted over a two-year period with female students attending two elite secondary schools in England (Highbury Hall) and
India (Ripon College) to frame my argument.1 Elite schools privilege their students in particular ways (see Kenway and Fahey, this issue; see also Walford 1986, 1991; McDonald, Pini, and Mayes 2012). It is also my contention that privilege enables particular constructions of femininity for female students in attendance at these elite schools (see Maxwell and Aggleton 2010, 2013; Allan and Charles 2012; Walford 1993).2 To show the transnational nature of these subjective constructions of femininity, my discussion will respond to and enhance the work of two pertinent thinkers: Angela McRobbie (2009) and Aihwa Ong (1999).
