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This thesis presents a gendered analysis of factors that shape adolescent attitudes to Information Technology (IT) at key stages in their education. It draws on career decision-making literature, psychological self-efficacy literature and some of the more salient feminist literature. Results of interviews with students in junior, middle and senior secondary-schools in Australia are presented alongside those from students studying IT at two universities. This research provides relevant and current insight into reasons why females are not choosing IT courses to the same extent as males, that is not captured in the existing literature. The study found that many young women and men, while being almost equal in IT use and computer literacy, do not consider IT as a valid and independent discipline for future study or as a career. It found that IT rarely entered students’ schematic repertoire of possible future careers, a schematic repertoire strongly influenced by parental opinion at all stages of education. / It found a surprising proportion of the university students interviewed currently studying IT, did not consider this degree as their first choice and were often not convinced that they would continue in the career after graduation. This thesis concluded that while IT is a varied discipline that is unique in its many applications, to many students the discipline is predominately aligned to hardware and associated objects. It found that there is a deficit in student knowledge of what an IT career involves beyond that of the most stereotypical portrayal of a programmer, and that this deficit of knowledge is evident in both genders. It is apparent from this study that the lack of women in IT is not necessarily a gender issue, but an issue embedded in the image of the IT discipline, an image that lacks the status of a professional career.

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The Ovidian Ariadne of Heroides 10 self-consciously constructs her persona into the archetype of erotic abandonment. The heroine attempts to re-write her destiny and reverse the loss of Theseus and her unfulfilled desire. But Ariadne cannot change her depiction as abandoned by Theseus. The language employed in her epistle only succeeds in emphasising the erotic loss. The more Ariadne tries to change the master narrative, the more she accentuates the literary echoes of her abandonment. This thesis argues that the intertextual echoes of the heroine should not exclusively be read from Catullus 64, but that Ovid‟s Ariadne writes her epistle in the context of many genres - elegy, epic, tragedy, exilic elegy - which all emphasise loss, death, and erotic disillusionment. My reading of Heroides 10 avoids the interpretations of parody previously read of this particular heroine to argue instead the way Ariadne constructs the governing persona in accordance with the genres of both elegy and epistolography. Ariadne‟s self-representation as an elegiac puella ultimately reflects her traditional literary and artistic image. / This disrupts her self-depiction as an erotic object and subsequently her construction of masculine desire. The heroine‟s epistolary gaze and voice self-consciously re-affirm her position as the quintessential abandoned woman, while her poetics continually assert the irreversible end of her relationship and the failure of her words to change her fate. Death is the primary concern of the epistle, in which the request for proper burial replaces the desire for erotic union. Memorialisation and writing become the prime motivation for Ariadne‟s poetics whereby she attempts to reverse Theseus‟ forgetful mind with a concrete monument to the self. The dislocation of Ariadne‟s erotics alongside the failure of epistolarity attests to the failure of her voice in constructing change to her traditional narrative.

The Thematic Analysis Statement demonstrates the ways in which the various texts included in Storylines and storyspaces: a folio of learnings related to socially-just pedagogies, are linked in a common exploration of socially-just pedagogies. The Thematic Analysis Statement constitutes Folio Item 1 and provides an analysis of each of the four texts that constitute this folio of learnings. In Folio Item 2, A research journey: Reflective journal, I explore my own subjectivities and the discourses which led to this study and which shaped the research in particular ways. The journal also explores the ways in which the research journey itself shaped my subjectivities. The largest item of the folio, Pedagogies: Storylines and storyspaces (Folio Item 3, Part A) adopts the genre of teacher professional development materials and consists of theoretical, methodological and practical perspectives related to socially-just pedagogies. This folio item is accompanied by a companion text, Pedagogies: A journal of storylines and storyspaces (Folio Item 3, Part B). The companion text is designed to provide practical support to readers engaged in professional learning associated with the main text. Two papers both written for academic audiences and with similar titles constitute Folio Item 4. These two papers reflect my own learning journey in terms of developing a theoretical framework that resonates with feminist poststructuralism. These texts are all underpinned by feminist poststructural theorising. Each of these texts is considered in relation to three further aspects. First, the ways in which each item addresses the central research questions are explored. Second, each text is examined in terms of its place in relation to the five key stages of the research journey. Third, the place of "head work, field work and text work" (McWilliam, Lather & Morgan, 1997) and heart work is considered in relation to each text.

This thesis analyses the Takarazuka Revue, an all-female musical theatre company, seeking to investigate its relation to broader issues of gender in contemporary Japan. Takarazuka has simultaneously reinforced and challenged the gender norms of Japanese society for the past ninety years, and indeed provides insights into the construction of those very norms. Takarazuka takes images of masculinity and femininity from mainstream society, the media, arts and popular culture, in both Japan and other countries, and reconstructs them according to its own distinct notions of how gender should be portrayed, both on and off its stage, not only by its performers, but also by fans and creative staff. Unlike in other single-sex theatrical genres featuring cross-dressing, such as Kabuki, gender is the essential focus of every performance in Takarazuka. Takarazuka’s practices show that gender is not inherent, but must be learned through observation, imitation and direct instruction, and that various versions of male gender can be assumed for specific purposes, even temporarily, by biological females (and vice versa). Takarazuka’s relationship with gender extends well beyond the stage itself; and one of the ways in which this thesis goes beyond other studies is its focus on the whole life-course of Takarazuka performers, including their girlhood and post-retirement years. The relationship with gender issues encompasses fans as well. The popularity of Takarazuka’s male-role players (otokoyaku), in particular, indicates that the manipulation of gender within a theatrical context has great appeal for audiences. However, many Takarazuka fans, especially female fans of the otokoyaku, evidently not only passively consume the artistry of gender impersonation on its stage, but also actively contribute to its production by communicating their expectations about gender performance to the actors and the Takarazuka administration, and by encouraging each performer to sustain her stage gender off-stage when she appears in public, at least to a certain extent. The emotional investment of fans in supporting Takarazuka is often intense and long-lasting, and their attraction to Takarazuka clearly is not necessarily based solely upon sexuality, as other studies have proposed, but involves broader issues of gender. The influence of Takarazuka derives not only from its performances, but also from many other aspects of its organisation and gender-linked practices. Takarazuka’s existence and details about its members and various unique practices are widely publicised by the media. Its influence upon the social construction of gender in Japan extends beyond the confines of its theatres, its versions of gender roles affecting the lives of many in the general populace apart from those directly involved in performing in, creating or supporting its productions.

Zugl.: Hamburg, Univ., Magisterarbeit, 2002