This collection establishes a highly topical, new, international field of study: that of gender, education and citizenship. It brings together for the first time important cutting-edge research on the contribution of the educational system to the formation of male and female citizens. It shows how gender relations operate behind apparently neutral concepts of liberal democratic citizenship and citizenship education.
The editors asked leading international educationalists to describe the theoretical frameworks and methodologies they used to research gender and citizenship.
Challenging Democracy suggests ways in which the educational system could help develop genuinely inclusive democratic societies in which men and women play an equal role in shaping the meaning of citizenship.

Madeleine Arnot is a Fellow of Jesus College and University Lecturer in the School of Education at Cambridge University. Recent publications include co-editing Feminism and Social Justice in Education: international perspectives (1993) and co-authoring Closing of the Gender Gap: postwar education and social change (1999).,
Jo-Anne Dillabough is an Assistant Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. She has published widely on gender theory and teacher education and is currently writing a book on cultural identities and political communities in Canadian schools.