Yoshiko Nozaki

The present study explores the shifting perspectives of women's labor market participation in relation to gender dynamics of marriage and childrearing in the United States. First, the study looks at U.S. statistical data concerning women's labor participation, career trajectories, and the glass ceiling phenomena to demonstrate that the pattern of U.S. women's labor participation has shifted to the U curve from the M curve of the 1960s, but that very few women reach top executive positions. Although we can describe the situation of the women conceptually by using the term "glass ceiling", it is not clear what the term specifically addresses, which calls for case studies. The present study, then, proceeds to examine the case of former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Michel Flournoy, the Pentagon's highest-ranking woman in history, who resigned from her position in order to be at home for her teenaged children. The study analyzes the interview text of Flournoy with National Public Radio (NPR) and the comments made by listeners (these texts are available at the NPR website). The analysis shows that Flournoy made the choice to leave her position not because she was forced to take on childrearing responsibilities at home, but because she regarded it as once-a-life-time opportunity, that she was quite content with her decision, and that she thought that it was not the "end" but a "stop" of her career. The comments of listeners were diverse, including a suggestion for a new life course for women and a question concerning the lack of media interest in working class women. The study concludes by discussing the issues of "time" (or "work-life balance") for working women in general, and women assuming leadership positions in particular.

One of the most significant worldwide transformations in education over the past several decades has been the drastic increase in women's access to colleges and universities. However, the narrowing gender gap in education does not necessarily mean that gender inequalities in various spheres of society are narrowing simultaneously. This article presents a country case study of Mongolia concerning "reverse gender gaps" in its higher education enrollments, along with a review analysis of relevant literature. Specifically, it is concerned with the following questions: How has women's higher education enrollment changed over time in the context of higher education system development, transition, and expansion? How men and women distributed across the higher education? Which fields of study are predominantly female and which are predominantly male? If there are patterns of gender disparities, what. are their meanings in relation to women's paid work and the socio-historical contexts of marriage and families? The article suggests that the Mongolian reverse gender gaps in higher education are complex phenomena that require nuanced interpretations.

In a 1989 article in the Harvard Educational Review, E. Ellsworth criticized the "critical pedagogy" by problematizing her own teaching practice. She pointed out that although the intent is to empower students, educators cannot set rational solutions for students' problems, because of their differences in social positions. Instead, she proposes a "pedagogy of the unknowable." A new perspective for understanding the relationships between humans and their ways of producing knowledge. In this paper, we trace how this perspective becomes posslible by examining the theoretical developmental the sociology of school knowledge, and its recent adaptation of poststructuralist approach. We begin by examining major reproduction theories and resistance theories in terms of their treatment of the subject and knowledge. Through a review of studies written from the beginning of the 1970s until the mid-1980s, we find that human beings, in most cases, have been treated as mere receivers of knowledge, and that education is considered to be merely the transmission of knowledge. Human agency, in our view, has not been given enough attention. Recently, however, many scholars have begun to recognize the importance of employing poststructuralist approaches. We introduce several examples of educational research based on poststructuralist theories, examining how they treat subject and knowledge. It becomes clear that these poststructuralists share common interests of deconstructing and reconstructing "concepts" which have been seen as given, and that they employ semiotics to analyze text and/or discourse. We believe that these interests and semiotic analysis bring a new perspective from which human beings are recognized as creators of knowledge. Returning finally to Ellsworth's critique, we conclude the paper by exploring the implications of poststructuralist theories upon curriculum theories. It is necessary for educators to develop new curriculum theories in which students are empowered as creators of knowledge.