MADELEINE ARNOT
EDUCATING YOUNG FEMALE CITIZENS: SOCIAL DISCRIMINATION, GENDER EQUALITY AND GLOBAL DEMOCRATIC ISSUES
The World Bank Report (2007) describes a ‘demographic window of opportunity’ to make a difference to the education and inclusion of young people, particularly those living in poverty, experiencing illiteracy and unemployed. There is a record 1.3 billion youth between 12 and 24 in the world. Young people make up half the world’s unemployed, some 130 million cannot read or write and some 100 million new jobs are needed to cope with young people seeking work. This window of opportunity arguably is only open for a short period of time.
Poverty alleviation however cannot be achieved solely by improving access to formal schooling and the transition from schooling to work. The socio-cultural, familial and political transitions into citizenship are equally important. Individuals will only find ways out of poverty if they feel that they belong, are valued and that they can and will make a contribution to society.
The experience of those young people who, for whatever reason, are not able to take up their entitlement to an education, is one of marginalisation and social exclusion from citizenship. Those who attend schools learn about the civic culture of a country by experiencing the structure, culture and organisation of the institution. However, the experience may be contradictory especially for girls and for young people from disadvantaged groups. In some cases, this experience directly transmits the democratic and inclusive values intended by politicians and officials; in other cases, the experience contradicts those values, encouraging a discriminatory, negative view of the social order by legitimating and even aggravating social inequalities of gender, class, caste, religion and ethnicity. Schools unless closely monitored are not unambiguously democratic institutions; hence the continuous re-engagement of policy makers with the core values and objectives of the education of young female and male citizens.
International attention has now therefore defined young people’s experiences of citizenship as ‘crucial for development outcomes’ with major human capital consequences. Young men and women should now be seen as important stakeholders who can make considerable difference to:
collective action, public accountability, caring for kin and community, environmental stewardship, the promotion of human dignity, and the creation of shared identity and rights (WBR, 2007)
The transition into ‘exercising citizenship’ is described as one of five key transitions of youth into adulthood - the others are: learning; beginning to work; taking risks that impact on health; and forming families.
The World Bank report encourages the view that young people as active citizens can also be used to improve market performance: in this scenario, both male and female youth as stakeholders can protest against officials who are not accountable or challenge a service that is inefficient. Young people would carry the flag of economic development and democratic process. From this position schools could be judged on how far they encourage ‘youth citizenship’; how far young people of both sexes feel that they not only have a shared identity, but that they have rights, responsibilities and a duty to provide some service to society. For most countries, these goals are not ones normally associated with girls. The focus all too often of female education is service to their families and their menfolk. Learning leadership and even the right to choose as a focus of female education are often neglected. The transition to citizenship for young women is fraught with difficulties.
From an educational point of view, this political agenda highlights the value of a form of citizenship education for all young women as well as young men and a set of markers with which to assess progress of schools towards the achievement of female civic rights, responsibilities and duties. These recommendations mean that schools should ensure that they are proving girls with opportunities (a) to learn how to practice ‘active citizenship’; (b) to develop their capabilities and encourage recognition of the importance of female youth identity by those who count; and (c) ensure that women are given second chances to correct mistakes, if taking the wrong direction.
However, the future of young women and young men is not only affected by their schooling. Those living in poverty or near the poverty line are at the centre of a maelstrom of social changes, most of which they are not able to benefit from. Even if protected within the home and unaware of the forces which shape their lives, young women and their families are affected by, for example: cultural globalization which encourages individualization and new types of gender identity through global media; and, economic globalization that leads to urbanization, migration, often increasing inequalities between the rich and poor. These forces also run counter to strong cultural and religious allegiances, cultural heritages and national/patriotic identifications. Young people today have to negotiate the traditional ethnic, patriarchal, gerontocratic and gender cultures of their communities if they are to retain social support at a time of reduced state welfare.
The challenge of the 21st century is to find a way of educating both young women and young men for such social change, helping them find their own sense of voice, agency, choice and empowerment as well as giving them ways of moving out of poverty.
The paper argues that the essential pre-condition for girls to be able to take up and take advantage of their full entitlement to quality education as young citizens is both the promotion of gender equality and a recognition of the gender differences created historically. This, however, implies genuine social transformation of gender relations within educational institutions and within society. Drawing on the UK experience and recent research on youth citizenship, the presentation suggests a number of key dimensions and educational challenges which are relevant to the promotion of gender equality in the next generation, in and through education.
M. Arnot
November 2008.
