Addressing the significant shifts in the social, political and professional context for informal education, this book makes clear the continuities in community-based informal education with girls and argues for its continuing importance. The impact of neo-liberal approaches to empowerment is highlighted throughout. Drawing together historical, theoretical and practice-based work, including case studies from a range of projects, Batsleer offers an analysis of the significant issues that will affect practice in the future and the significance of feminist inspired informal education rooted in specific community contexts.

Janet Batsleer is Principal Lecturer for Youth and Community Work at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.

Contents: Introduction: 'threat'; Girls in the modern world: moments of danger and delight; Autonomy and relationship; Empowerment?; Informal learning and feminist pedagogies; Sexuality; Poverty and motherhood; Independence and dependency: then politics of disability; Violence against young women; Community, culture and identity; Feminist work with girls: professional formation and community-based practice; Established patterns, new directions: the organisational context of work with girls and young women; The politics of globalisation; Appendices; References; Index.