Revolutionary Struggles and Girls' Education

Revolutionary Struggles and Girls Education: At the Frontiers of Gender Norms in North-Ethiopia argues that at the base of girls' poorer performance than boys at secondary school level when puberty has set in, is the ';symbolic violence' entailed in sanctioned femaleness. Informed by the modesty of Virgin Mary in Orthodox Christian veneration, it instructs girls to internalize a ';holding back' which impinges on her self-efficacy and ability to be an active learner. Neoliberally-informed educational policies and plans which have co-opted liberal feminism also in Ethiopia, do not address ';hard-lived' gender norms and the power and domination dynamics entailed when parity between boys and girls in school continues to be the dominant measure for equity. Despite women's courageous contribution at a literal ';frontier' during the Tigrayan liberation struggle (1975-91) where they fought on equal terms with men, and despite the tendency that girls' outnumber boys at secondary level in the present context, sanctioned femaleness constitutes a ';frontier' for girls' educational success and transition to higher education. In fact, when teaching-learning continues to be based on memorization rather than critical thinking, the very transformative potential of education is undermined - also in a gendered sense.