Gender, anti-rights movements, and the politics of education

• In Event: Gender, Race and Disabilities in Education

Proposal

Protests can help situate education as a human right and endeavor to bring about more just and inclusive educational futures. But progressive demonstrations are often met with backlash by populist and authoritarian regimes who energize their own protests around illiberal reforms to education. Gender and sexuality in particular have been two contemporary issues that have led to polarized public debates in education. Policies related to children’s right to comprehensive sexuality education (CSE), for example, are often met with backlash from conservative groups who use forms of collective action to advocate for banning any discussion of gender, sexuality, or LGBTQI+ diversity in schools.

This study contributes to filling a gap in scholarly research on anti-rights and anti-gender movements globally by mapping the key stakeholders, their interconnectedness, and their means of exerting power or influence on education discourse and policy reform. Our methodology involves a comprehensive analysis of grey and academic literature in English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. We prioritize literature from lower- and middle-income countries which are under-represented in global analysis, and, where necessary, fill gaps with literature from high-income countries. This desk-based research will inform a second phase of empirical research, which will generate dialogue amongst key stakeholders to strategize towards collaboratively countering the influence of anti-rights movements in education.

Below we present some preliminary findings from the literature, organized in response to our three research questions, and with examples from diverse geographical contexts. Our literature review is still ongoing, and the findings will be further expanded upon and refined as more evidence is collected and analyzed. The evidence will help generate a conceptual framework which we will present at CIES, and which will inform the qualitative empirical research design in phase two.

What or who are the anti-rights movements contesting gender equality in school curricula and learning materials and what are their ideological and political goals?  

Anti-rights actors including parents, religious or political leaders, and civil society organizations (CSOs), often take collective action to push forward their agendas and shape educational reform. The paper will first explore what their ideological and political goals are in relation to gender and education. Parent-led organizations often use the argument of “parental choice” or the desirability of heteronormative family structures to surveil and contest decisions over curriculum content. From Catholic and Evangelical churches in Latin America to Islamic leaders in parts of Africa, and Hindutva followers in India, we will explore how religious and secular groups have used religious scriptures and doctrine to influence government decisions. Further, discussion of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Pakistan's military regime of 1979, and Bolsonaristas in Brazil will allow for a comparative analysis of how authoritarian and ultraright groups have exerted their power to shape educational reform across geographical and temporal boundaries (e.g., Khan, 2018). Lastly, this section will trace how transnational partnerships have been formed, and how key actors, organizations, or movements from one country or region support and influence those in another. In doing so, this section explores how different anti-rights social movements learn from each other across regional and national contexts.

How have anti-rights movements sought to achieve their goals?

Anti-rights movements wield both visible and hidden power within and across national boundaries to preserve the status quo, and resist or reverse progressive reforms. The paper will explore the different strategics and tactics of protest and anti-rights demonstration. It will analyze how these actors train and fund their representatives to assume positions of power within governments, judiciaries, and influential institutions (Shameem, 2021), and the techniques of sophisticated political movements to eliminate sex and gender from educational curricula, silence dissenting voices in academia, or defund gender studies programs to advance their ideologies (Lewin, 2021). Furthermore, this section will investigate how these actors seek to garner community support and exert pressure on governments by using fear-based tactics and the propagation of misinformation, while at the same time appealing to scientific and legal discourses for legitimacy (Dvoskin, 2022). Another area of focus will be the role that different media play in shaping protest, and particularly how anti-rights movements utilize or engage with mainstream and social media channels to disseminate misinformation quickly and at scale (Ronconi et al., 2023). By uncovering the mechanisms that anti-rights movements employ, it contributes valuable insights into both the overt and covert strategies that underpin their pursuits to preserve existing societal norms and structures.

Who are the stakeholders involved in resisting anti-rights reforms to educational content?

This section aims to identify and explore the key stakeholders involved in countering anti-rights and anti-gender reforms concerning educational policy and curriculum. Notably, CSOs have emerged as crucial actors, engaging in robust advocacy campaigns to challenge conservative societal elements in many parts of Latin America and Africa (Panchaud et al., 2023). At the local level, we will explore how progressive CSOs play a pivotal role in advocating for CSE from both a public health and human rights perspective (UNESCO et al., 2021), and how the scale of their impact may be limited by their financial or political power (Schneider, 2023, cited in Bruns et al., 2023). Particular attention will be given to the role of CSOs led by students, youth, women, or LGBTQI+ communities. We will also examine how national and subnational governments wield significant influence in institutionalizing education curricula and policies addressing gender norms, as even well-structured programs can falter if not legally mandated (Ronconi et al., 2023). Different examples will also illustrate how individuals, including political leaders, policymakers, or education ministers use their platforms to denounce or reproach anti-rights actors (MEFP, 2020) and how international development partners hold national governments accountable for global commitments, such as the Convention of the Rights of the Child (García, 2020). This final part of the paper therefore provides insights into the diverse stakeholders engaged in resisting anti-rights reforms and their respective contributions at the local, national, or global level.

A proposed conceptual framework synthesizing the answers to these questions will allow us to identify patterns of critique and strategies for exerting influence in the fields of gender and education.

Author

• Sophia M D'Angelo, Independent Consultant