A global movement for girls' and women's education in a multipolar world? The role of civil society

Recent decades have witnessed a growing number of global policy initiatives on girls' and women's education, with major global entities prioritising this issue. Yet while girls’ school enrolments have continued to increase... [ view full abstract ]

Recent decades have witnessed a growing number of global policy initiatives on girls' and women's education, with major global entities prioritising this issue. Yet while girls’ school enrolments have continued to increase globally, other gender inequalities remain in education, such as the ongoing marginalisation of certain girls and women, and the conditions girls face within school; and more needs to be understood about how girls’ education relates to gender equality in the labour market, poverty, equal political participation and representation, and levels of violence against women. Studies suggest that the involvement of civil society groups is key to effectively understanding and addressing inequalities (De Donatis and Rodriguez, 2013; Meyer and Prugl, 1999; Scholte, 2011; Mundy and Murphy, 2001), yet there has been a distinct lack of engagement between global education agendas and both the international women’s movement and women’s organisations at the national and local level.

The reasons behind this have not yet been explored but it is imperative to do so for the post-2015 development goals, particularly in an increasingly multipolar global political terrain, with the potential for greater involvement of women’s groups from emerging economies. This paper brings together perspectives from social movement theory, gender and global governance, to analyse interviews with key, senior informants from the global women’s movement. What forms of collaboration and cooperation would be helpful– what can be done to facilitate engagement with global policy structures? How can the new goals offer a better framework for bringing together diverse groups for gender equality?