State intervention, welfare and the social construction of girlhood in Australian history

Abstract

This paper provides a historical analysis of the role that state intervention into family life has played in the social construction of Australian `girlhood'. It outlines the discourses and practices surrounding child welfare interventions and institutions in Australia between 1890 and 1940, focusing on the very different ways in which girls and boys were regarded as problematic future `citizens', as well as the different institutional practices and disciplinary strategies they were subjected to. The paper works towards an explanation of those differences by locating them within broader social and scientific understandings of female and male `nature', with specific reference to the notion of girls and women as primarily sexual beings. The paper concludes by exploring the implications that the history of the social construction of girlhood might have for current policies and discourses specifically focusing on girls.