Problematising Conceptualisations of Gender in Feminist Studies : The Place of Age and Children in the Concept of Gender

Abstract: Using a feminist poststructuralist approach as a guide, I begin this thesis with the workinghypothesis that gender may be an adult-centred concept in feminist studies. This leads me toask: If the concept of gender in feminist studies is adult-centred, how is this centring formedand maintained? To answer this question, I begin by splitting my analysis into three analyticalsections: age, children, and gender. Although I include age, children, and gender into eachsectional analysis, my main priority in the first two sections is to look at how feminist scholarsdiscuss and use the terms age and child(ren). In the gender section, I use three canonical gendertheory texts as the basis of my analysis, where I see how gender is discussed and conceptualisedand how both children and age figure in these conceptualisations.One of the main concerns of feminist poststructuralist theory is tackling binaries. However,with the category of age having been often taken for granted in feminist studies, and thereforeunder-theorised, the adult/child binary in the category of age remains largely unchallenged.Instead, where age has been investigated in terms of tackling binaries, the young/old binary hasdominated but has remained centred around the adult; leaving children underacknowledgedand under-theorised in feminist studies age discourse. This under-theorisation of childrenmeans that “child” remains a master status with seemingly unshakeable connotations ofinnocence, vulnerability, and incompetence. Children are those who are not adults and not-yetsubjects. They are understood as being in constant need of care from the competent andcomplete adult. In this thesis, I show how these points, among others, contribute to both theformation and maintenance of the concept of gender as adult-centred.