Reducing gender inequalities: An exploration of global citizenship education using critical adult learning approaches

• In Event: Harnessing the transformational power of lifelong learning for a more equitable world

Proposal

Good practices in adult learning and education can assist in developing critical global citizens who work to achieve gender equality and other aspects of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Education for citizenship can however, be a catalyst for, or in some cases, a deterrent against, the promotion of gender equality. Through a discussion of traditional and emerging approaches to citizenship education I will provide insights into obstacles and opportunities for promoting gender equality using adult learning and education (ALE). Possibilities through ALE include using emerging feminist and situational approaches that incorporate experience and view women, LGBTQ+ and other disenfranchised groups as agents of change, critically engage in dialogue about the complexities in what we commonly consider citizenship or citizenship values, and promote approaches such as intersectional (feminist) frameworks. These practices of adult education include an interrogation into politics of inequality and thus are marked by tensions.

Citizenship education, as such, can either encourage or discourage this transformation. Active citizenship interrogates bias, includes agency, social capital and a commitment to transforming communities. Meanwhile, hegemonic citizenship education produces hegemony – in other words, the norms, values, and assumptions that dominant culture exercises to maintain the status quo. Research suggests globally that "tensions still exist between forms of citizenship education that seek to preserve the status quo on the one hand, versus citizenship education that encourages engagement and active participation by citizens provide a fertile ground to argue for a deliberative form of democracy" (Chingombe & Divala, 2018, p.80). Tensions that are constructed by citizenship transfer to the citizens whom are differentiated and marked by social hierarchies – for example, those marginalized (women, gender diverse, ethnic, refugees, the aged) remain disadvantaged because hierarchies are reproduced through dominant discourses (Marshall & Arnott, 2008). Politicizing citizenship can help to empower and develop the individual and collective agency of disenfranchised groups and reduce gender inequality. To do so, suggests that citizenship needs to go beyond traditional or narrow definitions to include critical issues such as unpaid and caring work; the inequalities accentuated during the pandemic.

One of the approaches relatively new to adult education is intersectionality which situates the learner not only in terms of social identity, but also examines how structures of power impact on life experiences and how structures and systems (social, political and economic) produce and reproduce inequalities (Hanson et. al. 2022). Through a rigorous examination of how gender intersects with other aspect of representation (for example, race, class, sexuality and age) adult and lifelong learning can develop active participation among broader constituencies and diversities within communities; such opportunities limit the chance of perpetuating two-tiered citizenship and reproducing inequalities.

Intersectional frameworks therefore offer a unique way to interrogate inequalities. Such approaches infuse critical adult education with values and practices that enhance solidarity and social inclusion and are more likely to result in changes such as reducing gender and gender diverse inequalities. They are also more likely to be resisted because they challenge hierarchies and hegemony. Global examples will be provided to illustrate the different approaches.

Author

• Cindy Hanson, University of Regina