Home Institution
Skidmore College
Publication Date
Fall 2012
Abstract
Education for girls in India has been a crucial area of study for the past 20 years; however, the main focus of attention has been on issues of girls’ access to school only. This study moves beyond this, seeking to gain critical insight into how ‘gender’ is being understood within the classroom via teachers. Teachers’ trainings conducted by the government and by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) were examined through interviews with teachers and coordinators of teachers’ trainings, along with experts on gender and feminism in Delhi and Jaipur, Rajasthan. These interviews focused on the content and quality of teachers’ trainings, and their effects on teachers’ attitudes towards teaching, perception of ‘gender,’ and understanding of self-identity. Study results show that government-run teachers’ trainings are ineffective in creating a full understanding of ‘gender,’ and that much can be learned from trainings like those conducted by NGOs in expanding the discourse on gender to include feminist insights, and in creating teachers that are empowered, informed, self-aware citizens.
Disciplines
Education | Educational Sociology | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Gender and Sexuality | Inequality and Stratification | Social and Cultural Anthropology | Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
Recommended Citation
Snow, Martha, "Engendering the Classroom: A Look at Constructions of ‘Gender’ and Empowerment within Teachers’ Trainings in Northern India" (2012). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 1456.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/1456
Included in
Educational Sociology Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons
Program Name
India: Sustainable Development and Social Change