Citation

Hextrum K, Becker M, Stinnett J. Gend. Issues 2021; 38(4): 461-482.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Springer)

DOI

10.1007/s12147-020-09272-1

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Under President Trump, the Department of Education narrowed the definition of and protections for gender inequality in U.S. higher education (U.S. Department of Education, Dear Colleague Letter on Transgender, 2017). These changes drew criticism and concern for legal remedies for gender inequality. This study positions Trump's actions as an extension of rather than a deviation from past state actions towards gender in higher education. Drawing upon Brown's (Fem Stud 18(1):7-34, 1992; States of injury: power and freedom in late modernity, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1995) theory of the masculinist state, we examined how liberal feminists sought state protection through Title-IX and, in doing so, formalized state control over gender equity in schools. Using instrumental case study methodology (Creswell, Qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five approaches, SAGE, Thousand Oaks, 2013; Stake, The art of case study research, SAGE, Thousand Oaks, 1995) we analyzed campus housing policies and found three themes--segregation, visitation, and demarcation--that entrench masculinist state power across public, private, and religious institutions. We conclude by discussing the on-going contradictions for feminists seeking the state's protection.

Language: en