The document summarizes a study on education and gender relations in Chacraseca, Nicaragua. It conducted over 150 interviews and focus groups to examine how the education system affects gender equality. It finds that while schools provide basic skills, the curriculum and teaching methods reinforce traditional gender roles and stereotypes. As a result, educational attainment drops off sharply for females compared to males. The study concludes that truly transformative education is needed that addresses the root causes of inequality in society, not just knowledge acquisition.

2. • Chacraseca is a 49-square mile
comarca that belongs to the
municipality of León near the
Pacific Coast of Nicaragua.
• Over 9,000 residents make up the
community whose primary
economic enterprises are
subsistence farming and domestic
labor.
• Chacraseca is a self-organized
community divided into twelve
geopolitical sectors.
• Each of the sectors has an elected
leadership committee of five
individuals that meet each week.
Setting & Context
Kara M. Luebbering ! May 7, 2015

3. Methodology
• A modified Rapid Assessment Process (RAP) study based on iterative data
analysis, data collection, and triangulation.
• Coordinated with local leadership to collectively determine research plan
and identify key insiders.
• Primary division in sampling done according to twelve geopolitical barrios.
Within each barrio, determined a purposive sampling population from
which a random sample was taken until data saturation reached.
• Conducted 150 individual interviews, 6
focus group discussions, 6 key informant
interviews.
• Performed 120 hours of classroom
observation.
!
Kara M. Luebbering ! May 7, 2015

4. A Series of Side Questions
• If education is the solution then why do gender-based
inequalities persist on the household and communal level in
Chacraseca?
• After schools are built and students are enrolled, is their
educational experience transformative?
• To what extent does formal education in Chacraseca reinforce
the status quo in gender relations? To what extent does formal
education in Chacraseca contribute to greater gender equality?
• What does education need to look like in order to truly and
tangibly promote gender equality?
Kara M. Luebbering ! May 7, 2015

5. Findings: Transformative Education
• Inspired by Pedagogy of the
Oppressed where education
is an act of freedom and
individuals are critical of the
constructs in the
surrounding world.
• Teachers in Chacraseca rely
on a rote educational model
that reportedly caused
students to detach from
information.
• Students portrayed little
development of critical
consciousness in ways that
encourage them to transform
realities.
Kara M. Luebbering ! May 7, 2015

6. “Teachers are ineffective because all they
know how to do is use the same methods
they were shown in school, which is
basically just copying notes off the
board…in addition to that, we get a lot of
teachers that I feel like don’t really care,
they just because teachers because there
used to be a high demand for teachers
and you don’t need a full university
degree to teach.”
- Mariella, 24 Years of Age, Barrio San
Ramon
Kara M. Luebbering ! May 7, 2015

7. Findings: Education & Gender Relations
• Schools reflected the social context of Chacraseca and were
influenced by surrounding society that dictated male
participants be favored.
• In Chacraseca, there is little gender gap at the primary level but
the gender gap drastically increases as young people move up
the educational ladder.
• Benefits of education for women were understood as increased
family welfare whereas benefits of education for men translated
to gains in employment.
Kara M. Luebbering ! May 7, 2015

8. “If we start the year with twenty female students for example,
maybe ten of those finish. Of the ten that do not finish school
maybe eight of them get married. Of those eight that get
married maybe three get pregnant right away.”
- Juan Pablo, Secondary School Teacher at Maryknoll
“I have three sisters who all have university degrees
but who are all now amas de casa…at least they
have the title.”
-Manuel, 40 Years of Age, Mojón Sur 1
Kara M. Luebbering ! May 7, 2015

9. Reinforcing messages of inferior statuses in Chacraseca schools:
• Gender stereotyping in the curriculum & materials
• Differentiated attitudes toward male and female students
• Male students receive more classroom time and free time
• Female students are asked to clean and prepare the classroom
Findings: Education & Gender Relations
Kara M. Luebbering ! May 7, 2015

10. “Women learn from an early age what their role is and what their future
is supposed to look like. Here it seems like young girls are anxious and in a
big hurry to grow up and have a family so they don’t take advantage of the
opportunities they have access to when they are younger. When they are in
their teens and early twenties they have easy access to school but instead
they choose to start having children at 15 or 20 years old. By the time they
are 30 years old, they look back and wish they had slowed down but now the
challenges of completing school or having freedoms are harder to overcome. It
is just that in our culture, women are held in a certain space where all
they are moving toward is the idea that they are going to get married,
have children and work in the house. Young women meet that
expectation early on and in a rushed manner. When you’re young you’re in
such a hurry to grow up.”
-Bernada, Age 35, Boca de Cantarro
Kara M. Luebbering ! May 7, 2015

11. Discussion on The Future of Education
• Aiming for the advancement in an education system that reinforces
unequal gender relations inhibits growth.
• Genuine shifts in power must accompany knowledge acquisition in
order to transform societies.
• Basic education skills are not enough, there needs to be structural
changes that address the root cause of gender-based limitations.
• Revise current curriculum and pedagogy to reflect a gender-
sensitivity, engages in gender analysis and action, and will
encourage both girls and boys to reach their full potential
• Create new pathways to explore individual vocations and engage
students in their own development.
• Establish gender equality as a necessary right for achieving a
vocation of humanness and liberation.
!
Kara M. Luebbering ! May 7, 2015

12. Conclusion
• Schooling as it exists does little to address the underlying causes
of gender inequalities in society.
• The institutions which are central in perpetuating these
inequalities can also help eliminate them.
• The school has the potential to act as a vehicle of transformation if
true education is made a priority.
• Achieving gender parity is not
enough, we need to ask: What kind
of education?
!
Kara M. Luebbering ! May 7, 2015

13. Thank You!
Kara M. Luebbering
kluebbering@email.arizona.edu
www.linkedin.com/in/
karaluebbering
May 7, 2015