Gender in the education system: Civil society and government collaboration in Guatemala

• In Event: Catalysts for change or keepers of tradition? How school environments influence gender dynamics and impact education outcomes

Proposal

Guatemala is a country with a deep history of inequality, racism and gender discrimination where education is not only a reflection of the situation but a producer of it. This is reflected in disparities in access, quality, and content. Only a third (33.6%) of youth aged 15 to 24 are in school (Encuesta Nacional de Condiciones de Vida (ENCOVI) 2024), with a gender gap of 4 percentage points disfavoring girls. The country has the largest gender gaps disfavoring girls in lower and upper secondary, with gaps as large as 10% for out-of-school girls compared to out-of-school boys. Analysis of recent census data shows indigenous Guatemalan youth ages 12-18 are 18 percentage points less likely to attend secondary school than nonindigenous, and national standardized tests (2019) find indigenous secondary school students are 0.44 standard deviations behind nonindigenous students in reading, and 0.26 standard deviations behind in math (Naslund-Hadley and Santos, 2022).

These inequities have historical roots. Since the Conquest and Colonial times, the Spanish destroyed the cultural materials of the Mayan populations, and the Church used education as a tool for assimilation and to evangelize. It was not until after the Peace Accords in 1996 that the notion of intercultural education was acknowledged as a right, which was later institutionalized and embodied in 2003 in the Viceminister of Intercultural Bilingual Education (Gonzalez, 2011). Despite a 2016 Constitutional Court ruling that the Ministry of Education (MOE) had to develop methodologies and content for all the indigenous people in Guatemala, little progress has been done since then (PDH, 2021). Furthermore, conservative forces remain aligned with a colonial understanding of education and have made it difficult to advance gender transformative content in the education system.

Asociación Red de Mujeres Indígenas Abriendo Oportunidades Aq'ab'al ONG (REDMI) was founded in 2012 by a group of indigenous female leaders. REDMI implements education and empowerment programs for indigenous girls in the Mayan highlands of Guatemala, reaching thousands of indigenous girls in more than 60 communities.

This presentation will showcase a unique collaboration between REDMI, Population Council and the Guatemalan MOE to reach out-of-school girls with alternative secondary education. We will showcase how we partnered with the Modalidades Flexibles (MF program delivered by the MOE) teachers at the municipal level, focusing on reaching out-of-school girls in the age group of 13 to 17 while maintaining community connections to parents, households, community leaders, and local schools through Abriendo Oportunidades’ safe spaces activities for younger girls ages 8 to 12. We will share progress and lessons, including effects on students and teachers.

Author

• Elizabeth Vasquez, Asociación Red de Mujeres Indígenas Abriendo Oportunidades Aq'ab'al ONG (REDMI)