Gender Inequality and Education: Case Studies from Chile and Colombia

Group Submission Type: Panel Session

Proposal

According to different scholars, gender equality in education is still an unattained goal (Avalos, 2003; Castillo 2011; Reveco 2011; Valdéz 2013; Provoste, 2006; Poblete, 2011; Schulz, Ainley, Fraillon, Kerr & Losito 2010; Torney-Purta & Amadeo 2004). Additionally, females in Latin America have higher unemployment rates, and are unequally represented in high earning or high responsibility jobs (Reveco, 2011). Further, females are discriminated even when they are working in the same area than their male peers: when they have the same years of schooling than men or the same number of educational degrees, they receive considerable less payment (60-70%) for the same amount of work (Provoste, 2006). Unemployment reasons —translated into a vulnerable economic position within society— are also related to the issue of caring, since most unemployed females report that they remain in their homes caring for children and family (Castillo, 2011). In the political realm, female representation in Congress in both Chile and Colombia prove to be one the lowest in the region, being female youth one of the most politically disengaged populations (Cicognani, Zani, Fournier, Gavray & Born, 2012).

Taking into consideration these issues, this panel brings together three papers regarding gender inequality in Chile and Colombia from different epistemological stances and methodological approaches (statistics, digital ethnography, and discourse analysis). Each paper addresses different questions to examine the problem (understanding the causes of the gender gap, how gender itself is produced for particular subjects, and how it might affect women’s social and political lives). This panel presents education –in a comprehensive sense– as a way to produce gender, but also as a mechanism to modify oppressive gender constructs.

Given that inequality plays a significant role in the consolidation of life-threatening conditions for women and/or LGBTQI subjects, the panelists advocate for these issues to be critically addressed. In this sense, we have envisioned our research as part of a larger political activism that refuses to perpetuate gender inequality, and in doing so, we strongly support the work that is being done by social movements like #NiUnaMenos. Therefore, these presentations have been conceived as a scholarly response to the regional sustained gender inequality, partaking in a larger conversation in regards to the damaging effects of gender constructions over women and/or LGBTQI youth in Latin America and the Global South.

References
Avalos, B. (2003). Gender parity and equality in Chile: A case study. Paris: UNESCO.
Castillo, J. (2011). Equidad educativa y género en Chile: estado de situación del sistema
educativo y relaciones de género en la escuela. Revista Latinoamericana de Educación Inclusiva: 5(1), pp. 33-48.
Cicognani, E., Zani, B., Fournier, B., Gavray, C., & Born, M. (2012). Gender differences in youths’ political engagement and participation. The role of parents and of adolescents’ social and civic participation. Journal of Adolescence, 35(3), 561–576.
Provoste, P. (2006). Equidad de Género y Reformas Educativas: Argentina, Chile, Colombia,
Perú. Santiago de Chile: Arancibia y Hnos. y Cía. Ltda
Poblete, R. (2011). Género y educación: trayectoria de vida para ellos y ellas. Revista
Latinoamericana de Educación Inclusiva: 5(1), pp. 63-77.
Reveco, O. (2011). Currículum y género en la educación. Revista Latinoamericana de Educación
Inclusiva: 5(1), pp.17-32.
Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Kerr, D.& Losito, B. (2010). Attitudes Toward Gender
Equality. Initial Findings from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study.
Amsterdam: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement,
pp.47-50.
Torney-Purta, J. and Amadeo, J.A. (2004). Supports for Women’s Rights and Attitudes toward
Ethnic Groups (pp. 109-116). Strengthening Democracy in the Americas through Civic
Education: An Empirical Analysis Highlighting the Views of Students and Teachers.
Washington, DC: Organization of American States.
Valdés, T. (2013). Género en la escuela, o la porfiada desigualdad. Docencia, 49, 46-61.

Sub Unit

• Committee: Gender & Education

Chair

• Daniela Romero-Amaya, Teachers College, Columbia University

Individual Presentations

• Relationships between gender gap in academic performance and measures of gender equality: Evidence from Chile - Karina Gabriela Diaz Yanez, Teachers College, Columbia University; Javiera Ravest, Universidad de Chile

• Gender constructs and its sociopolitical implications for Colombia’s peace process - Daniela Romero-Amaya, Teachers College, Columbia University

• “La Lucha”: Chilean students struggling against patriarchy in digital sites - Valentina Errazuriz Besa, Teachers College, Columbia University