Who’s Afraid of Gender? Decolonial Pathways to Education and Peace

• In Event: Peace Beyond Coloniality: Centering the Margins in Research & Inquiry

Proposal

Contemporary debates over gender in schools are often framed as unprecedented cultural conflicts, yet the fear and policing of gender diversity have deep imperial roots. Colonialism embedded racialized and gendered binaries into educational systems through policies like the Page Act of 1875, Japanese militarism's exploitation of "comfort women," and U.S. racialized restroom segregation. These constructs were designed to govern bodies, suppress Indigenous and diverse gender systems, and maintain social hierarchies; legacies that persist today through gendered dress codes, binary bathroom policies, and the systematic erasure of Indigenous, Black, and queer histories in curricula.

Educational spaces, far from neutral, continue to reproduce colonial binaries that contribute to social division and conflict in schools. However, this historical continuity is rarely made explicit in peace education frameworks, leaving educators without adequate tools to address the structural origins of the gender-based conflicts they navigate. Current approaches to fostering peace through education often overlook how colonial gender constructs perpetuate the very divisions they seek to heal.

This presentation argues that dismantling colonial gender binaries is essential to achieving meaningful peace in educational settings. Through a transnational, decolonial lens, I demonstrate how reclaiming suppressed gender-expansive traditions and centering marginalized knowledges can transform schools from sites of division into spaces of social cohesion and liberation. Drawing on historical case studies alongside analysis of contemporary school policies, this research offers educators and policymakers a framework for recognizing and disrupting colonial legacies while fostering inclusive educational environments that contribute to broader peacebuilding efforts.

Author

• Femi Higgins, Tangible Culture