Campus Climate and the Theory of Gender Performativity

Abstract

The objective of this chapter is to outline the theory of gender performativity and to discuss its implications for researchers and policymakers in higher education. This chapter will examine the manner in which the measurement tools and recruitment methods utilized by research in higher education may serve to reinforce particular ontological assumptions about gender. If institutions of higher education aspire to serve their diverse student populations as inclusively as possible, it may be valuable for researchers and policymakers to consider the notion that gender is a social construct that is continually open to experimental performance.