The educational paradox for women in India

There's a paradox to be investigated about educational opportunities for South Asian women. If education is the key to empowerment, why are educated women in India withdrawing from employment?

This issue was among those canvassed at a recent symposium at UTS on Gender, Education and Women's Empowerment presented by Dr Rekha Pappu, Associate Professor and Chairperson at the Azim Premji School of Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad.

Pappu was invited to UTS as a Key Technology Partnerships (KTP) visiting fellow by Associate Professor Nina Burridge and Dr Meera Varadharajan of the UTS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, with whom she has been collaborating for the past couple of years.

Pappu's research explores gender and education as well as the connections between the contemporary discourses of development and education. Her interest in education, employment and empowerment, especially in relation to women, peaked when she observed that discussions don't seem to be taking place that equally address all three aspects of this triangle.

"The argument we always get from policy documents, whether national or international, is that education is vital to development, and that it holds the key to empowerment, especially where women are concerned."

Certainly, there is the assumption that women's education equates with employment. But it seems the opposite could also be true. While looking at recent data, Pappu noticed that educated women in India are the ones withdrawing from employment and from the labour force altogether.

"I'm looking to see why women drop out of employment. In what ways does education serve educated women?

"I want to look at what education is doing to prepare young people seeking to enter the workforce and real life, so to speak.

"In order to understand how we change the education system, I also want to look at, in retrospect, what kind of education system do these people who've dropped out of the workforce think would have empowered them?"

Opting out of full time employment is not a phenomenon specific to India. Around the world, too, many women either give up their career or do not give it as much importance as their family life. But the difference Pappu has identified is that in other parts of the world women mostly want to come back and work in regular jobs, or at least opt for flexible work.

"What I'm trying to find out is whether there is a willingness on the part of women to go back into employment. Women in South Asia seem to indicate that there isn't, which is not the case in most other parts of the world. This suggests that education for South Asian women may be for purposes other than employment.

"There are indications that women's education in these parts is largely used to reproduce the social status of their families through the support they provide to their children's education."

In the symposium Associate Professor Pappu also presented an overview of TISS, India, and introduced the research, teaching programs and projects carried out by the Azim Premji School of Education (APSoE), TISS, Hyderabad. It generated interest among school and faculty staff and led to identifying TISS and UTS projects that have common goals and objectives, and which have the potential to be jointly pursued further.

Pappu, Burridge and Varadharajan have been exploring the possibilities of enabling support for first generation women learners in India using models developed in Australia or by UTS.

During Pappu's visit they discussed how they can move their common research interests forward.

"We might look at cases in India and Australia where first generation learners are doing well in educational spaces," Pappu said. "In India, you don't have a very rosy picture – you find that they don't get a lot of support.

"But there are pockets where certain government schools are doing very well. Students from these schools, most of them first generation students, are showing good results, which is a heartening situation."

Pappu, Burridge and Varadharajan will continue to pursue their interest in first generation learners. And Burridge will soon visit Pappu at her institute in India to further the collaboration.

Pappu described the opportunity to visit UTS and interact with the faculty and students as "invaluable."

"In a sense, you don't really separate the personal from the academic. Getting to know another country, another culture – you need these kind of interactions as well.

"Back home you read about another culture, you see films, you know characters, the news and other interesting details. But then coming here and being a part of everyday life here makes a difference to your connection with a country and to your academic thinking."