`Boys' (and `Girls'?) in the Policy Document Boys: Getting it Right

The Australian Government commissioned a parliamentary inquiry into the education of boys. This policy document Boys: Getting it right: Report on the inquiry into the education of boys was released in October 2002. It has directed subsequent moves in this area by the government. These have included the introduction of legislation to amend the Sex Discrimination Act so as to enable measures to encourage men into teaching, and a rewrite, currently underway, of the previous policy the Gender Equity Framework. As such it is important to understand the way in which Getting it right constructs boys and girls, as this will shape the direction of these subsequent moves. This paper argues that Getting it right treats boys and girls as separate and fixed categories, exogenous to the wider gender order.