The combat for gender equality in education: rural livelihood pathways in the context of HIV/AIDS

The aim of this book is to facilitate the recognition of HIV/AIDS impact on the livelihoods of rural households as an issue frustrating the combat for gender equality in Universal Primary Education (UPE). This is particularly so in patriarchal, poor and rural contexts where children commute to school daily.

The main objective of the research is to establish why gender inequalities in UPE persist despite deliberate efforts to eradicate them.

The study is guided by the following specific objectives:

• To establish how the effect of HIV/AIDS on rural household livelihoods conflicts with investment in girls’ education.
• To find out the effect of household responses to the impact of HIV/ AIDS on teacher competence to promote gender equality.
• To identify other school-related factors that hinder gender equality in the context of HIV/AIDS.
• To propose a framework for understanding the persistence of gender inequalities in UPE.

The theoretical assumptions underlying the analysis undertaken in this thesis are: First, gender equality or the provision of equal capabilities is understood as a result of an intersection between various aspects of the social structure or the social organisation within which schools are situated. Secondly, individuals’ capabilities arise from their pathways in view of livelihood situations and structural boundaries.

It is argued that since school processes are shaped by social dynamics, the benefits of enhancing capabilities and mitigating HIV/AIDS will eventually be visible in the education sector.

Teachers’ competences to promote gender equality will improve due to changes in their professional knowledge landscapes.

AIDS- related livelihood pathways negate teacher competence, classroom interaction, and children’s rights enjoyment thereby perpetuating the entrenchment of gender inequalities. Gender inequalities therefore do not stem from a single factor in isolation, but rather from an intersection of various systems and identities in which pupils’ livelihoods are realised. Hence, if we want to understand the persistence of gender inequalities in the context of HIV/AIDS, indeed the key word is intersectionality. The author argues that focussing on counter-acting the negative effect of rural livelihood pathways means winning the combat for gender equality