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Gender Issues in Youth Development Programs

NCJ Number
155090
Author(s)
H J Nicholson; F L Weiss; M F Maschino
Date Published
1992
Length
102 pages
Annotation
Research on gender issues and their impacts on youth development were examined, with emphasis on their implications for youth development programs, particularly those directed to youths ages 10 to 15.
Abstract
Findings suggested that males and females are much more similar than different in biology and attitudes, especially before puberty. Thus, if early adolescents were taken out of a cultural context in which gender is very important, little reason would exist to handle them differently or to make conscious use of gender in youth development programs. Issues of gender have been central to the development of some youth organizations and far less consciously addressed in others. New attention to gender issues has sometimes been thrust upon organizations through litigation or political action addressing gender equity. In addition, many of the content areas that become the subject of youth development programs have strong gender-based traditions that almost certainly affect the decisions and experiences of both the adult designers of programs and the young participants. Furthermore, gender equity does not emerge automatically in either mixed-sex or single-sex settings, and gender equity is not typical of early adolescents' experience. Adults in both youth development programs and formal education need much better preparation to achieve the goal of equity of outcome for males and females of all backgrounds. Recommendations for research, figures, footnotes, and 221 references

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