Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (4)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gådin, K. G.
Right arrow Articles by Hammarström, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Gådin, K. G.
Right arrow Articles by Hammarström, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Health Promotion International, Vol. 15, No. 4, 303-311, December 2000
© Oxford University Press 2000

‘We won't let them keep us quiet ...’ Gendered strategies in the negotiation of power—implications for pupils' health and school health promotion

Katja Gillander Gådin and Anne Hammarström

Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Sweden

Address for correspondence: Katja Gillander Gådin Department of Caring Science, Mid Sweden University SE-851 70 Sundsvall Sweden e-mail: katja.gillander.gadin{at}vav.mh.se

The aim of this qualitative study was to analyse gendered strategies among pupils in the negotiation of power at school, and to discuss possible implications for health. Twenty-seven single-sex focus group interviews were conducted with pupils from equal opportunity projects. The interviews were analysed using grounded theory. The girls used ‘alliance building’ and ‘resistance’, in order to increase their power, while ‘responsibility taking’ and ‘withdrawal’ could mean maintained subordination. The boys used mastering techniques (various types of abuse, claiming to be the norm, acting-out behaviour, blaming the girls, choosing boys only) in self-interest to maintain their dominance. The girls' active and democratic actions for increased power could be of significant importance for their health. The boys' health would benefit if they gave up striving for power over others. School health promotion needs to address the asymmetric and gendered distribution of power between pupils, as well as to challenge the existing gender regime at an institutional level.

Key words: equal opportunity projects; ‘power through’; public health; reconstruction of power relations


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Eur J Public HealthHome page
K. G. Gadin and A. Hammarstrom
A possible contributor to the higher degree of girls reporting psychological symptoms compared with boys in grade nine?
Eur J Public Health, August 1, 2005; 15(4): 380 - 385.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Eur J Public HealthHome page
E. Witkowska and E. Menckel
Perceptions of sexual harassment in Swedish high schools: experiences and school-environment problems
Eur J Public Health, February 1, 2005; 15(1): 78 - 85.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Scand J Public HealthHome page
K. Gillander Gadin and A. Hammarstrom
Do changes in the psychosocial school environment influence pupils' health development? Results from a three-year follow-up study
Scand J Public Health, May 1, 2003; 31(3): 169 - 177.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.