Wajiha Saqib (Department of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of Texas at Austin)
Abstract
Over the past several decades, neoliberal ideology, including concepts of marketization and competition, has entered public education. For example, we see charter schools, aka Public-Private Partnerships schools (PPP), expanding globally. Neoliberal policies often downplay the role of gender in society, and while research has shown how charter schools impact inequalities by race, class, language, and disability, there is little research that looks at gender gaps in charter schools. In this narrative literature review, examining literature from the Global North and Global South and drawing on 38 sources, I conduct a comparative review of gender gaps related to enrollment, retention, and academic performance of students in education and then turn to how these gaps emerge in the context of charter schools. Moreover, my review examines how gender gaps in charter schools vary across contexts. I ask: a) To what extent do charter schools impact gender gaps in education for students? and b) How does this relationship vary across the Global North and Global South? These questions are essential to understanding the nuances of gender in a neoliberal education market from a global comparative lens, which is missing in the scholarly literature at present.
Keywords: Charter Schools, Public Private Partnerships, Gender, School choice, “girl child” education, “boy turn” education