Women in Development Units: Examining policy and practice in the education of women

• In Event: Women, Science and Development: Lessons from Educational Projects

Abstract

Gender educational policies have been designed and implemented by Women in Development Units in most of Latin-American and Caribbean countries during the last two decades to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment. In this research, based on Nelly Stromquist’s study, The Institutionalization of Gender and its Impact on Educational Policy (1998) and Catherine Marshall’s research, the Feminist Critical Policy Analysis (1997), I will examine the gender educational policies that were designed and implemented by the Women and Development Units in Costa Rica, Dominican Republic (DR), and Peru. A mixed method approach, (Creswell, 1998; Yin, 1994) will be conducted to answer the research questions of this research. A criterion-based (purposeful) sampling (Fitzpatrick, Sanders, & Worthen, 2004; Maxwell, 1996) will be used to select the national actors’ samples in Costa Rica, DR, and Peru within the Women’s Ministries. Among the preliminary results are that there is a policy fragmentation and lack of coordination between the Women in Development Units and the Education Ministries in these countries. Furthermore, Women in Development Units continue to be focused on providing adult education (non-formal education programs) and on monitoring of policies being implemented by other government structures. This paper will contribute to feminist perspectives in policy studies and to the academic areas of Education Research, Gender Studies, Policy Studies, and Latin-American/Caribbean Education Studies.

Author

• Angye A Rincón Castillos, Columbia University