Gender, Schooling and Poverty in Peru
| Authors | Type | Stream | Full Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patricia Ames, Rita Carrillo | Commissioned | Poverty |  en |
1. Aim
This paper aims to analyze a wide array of research evidence collected at different points in time, and at different levels (local and national) to highlight the implications of poverty and inequality on girls’ education, stressing the potential impact of climate change in a particular region (Cusco, Peru, South America). The paper also discusses the achievements and limits of the partnerships created at local and national level to improve girls’ access to education.
2. Participants
Research participants include rural girls of several indigenous communities in Cusco, Peru, as well as her parents, teachers and classmates, practitioners in a local NGO, and practitioners in several NGOs, policy makers and researchers that belong to a national network to support rural girls’ education in Lima.
3. Methodology
Our engagement with the topic and the region comes from different experiences. One of us worked in development projects with rural schools and illiterate women in the region during 1996 and in 1997 started a research on girls’ educational exclusion, using mixed methods such as interviews (with parents, teachers, and children), ethnographic and classroom observations, and documenting of enrolment, assistance and promotion of girls in primary education over a two school year period in two communities in the region. In 2004-2005, the same person undertook an evaluative research to a local NGO working in the same region with the aim to improve rural girls’ access and completion of primary education within a network of 30 schools, and similar methods were used, plus review of project documents, statistical information and textbooks produced by the project. In the meantime the other author has been working on teacher training, development projects and gender issues. From 2008 to date, this author participates on two networks, one regional (this one includes the local NGO evaluated by the other author) and one national, that promote rural girls’ education. Her insights and data collected through direct involvement, participant observation, informal interviews, and review of programmatic and policy documents allow to analyze the performance of different types of partnerships to improve girls’ education.
4. Limitations
This paper is not based in a single research and mixes data from several places and points in time. Nevertheless, the data comes from communities of similar characteristics in the same region, which allows for comparison. It also links local initiatives with national networks following the participation of a local NGO in both of these levels.
5. Research Findings
Research in indigenous and rural communities in Cusco shows there are multiple and poverty-related aspects working against the continuity of girls in schools. Thus, rural villages show high levels of poverty, and there is a need for the girls’ participation in economic activities. The time demanded by these activities enter in competition with the time (and costs) demanded by schooling. Moreover, it was found a very fragile relation between the girls and the school, since any event such the migration, sickness or death of a family member may imply an extra load of work for the girl and thus the interruption of schooling.
This situation makes girls’ education especially vulnerable to events caused by climate change. Indeed, during the first months of 2010, a flooding without precedents caused serious damage to agricultural lands, houses and roads in Cusco region. The start of school year was delayed but no assessment on how this may have affected rural girls’ education was undertaken. However, findings above indicate that it is highly likely that girls within families that suffer losses due to this event will interrupt their schooling to help their families to recover.
On the other hand, the school fails to attract and retain girls in many ways. Teachers hold very low expectations on girls and produce and reproduce stereotyped gender roles when asking their female students to perform domestic tasks for them. Physical punishment as well as menaces, mockery and humiliation are frequently used to enforce discipline at school. Boys usually tease girls, occupy most of the playground space, and laugh about girls’ mistakes in the classroom, creating an embarrassing situation for girls. In general, the quality of education in rural schools is very low, with teachers not completely prepared for their work, lacking adequate skills, methodologies, contents and even language (i.e. indigenous) for rural context.
The school system needs to attend several aspects to improve the quality of schooling girls get, such as teacher training, the use of gender-sensitive pedagogical strategies and the provision of adequate materials, knowledge and methodologies related with girls context and interests. When these conditions are met, results are extremely positive, as an evaluation to a local NGO working in this direction shows. This NGO now is part of regional and national alliances to promote girls’ education. These alliances however face several challenges to achieve their goals.
