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MONITORING LATIN
AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONS: Legislative
Regulations regarding respect for Education as a
Human Right and with an approach based on Gender
Equity, Policies, and Public Funds available for
Quality Education for Development
Few works connect
constitutional and legislative inclusion of the
right to education reviewed with a gender approach,
highlighting how the different States and civil
societies monitor the enforcement of this right in
the realities of those societies governed by said
regulations. We neither have enough studies on the
use (or disuse) of constitutional guarantees to
enforce this right (especially the Legal protection.)
By Carmen Colazo There is not a follow-up to verify compliance with those constitutional provisions prescribing that a part of the national budget should go to education (Art. 85 of the 1992 Paraguayan Constitution allocates a minimum budget as stated in the Title of the Article- no lower than 20% of the budget allocated to the Central Administration as a whole, excluding loans and donations.) Besides, it is not clear to which programs or educational projects this budget is allocated in those countries that stipulate so: if only to those of the Ministry of Education, or also to educational programs from other areas, such as the offices created to enforce gender policies, or the programs developed by these offices in collaboration with other government departments. It is neither clear how this percentage is transferred within the flows of the general budget and its different items. There are not enough works on how these constitutional non-observances translate into a lack of legislative regulations and, above all, how they affect the lives of girls and women, and their effective exercise of these rights, considering also that Constitutions have begun to include equity among men and women in every right (civil, political, economic, social, and cultural.) For example, Art. 46 and following articles of the Paraguayan Constitution, or the inclusion of the Convention for the Elimination of All Sorts of Discrimination against Women in the Argentine Constitution. Respect for the elderly, children, native people, and other human rights regarding gender have also been included. This is due to a greater awareness by the political class, and the society as a whole, based on the fact that disrespect towards these groups causes poverty, indifference, and exclusion in big sectors of the population. Notwithstanding this, national statistics on women’s situation and condition clearly show a gap between the constitutional texts, the different realities, and the growing feminization of poverty, exclusion, and violence. Continuing with the Paraguayan example, we see that studies on women in numbers, carried out by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the United Nations, show that the ones that do not enter are mostly women. There is 14% of illiterate women according to data that prove the existence of non-registered numbers in a country in which the language variable shows that almost 90% of the population speaks Guarani. Additionally, statistics show that 94% of native women are illiterate. (Colazo, 2006- Prieto 2000). When reading Latin American Constitutions, the first question that comes to mind is if there exists a constitutional demagogic language or Constitutions are also a living expression that rights are wishes. Every Constitution within the region includes descriptive subtleties in keeping with the constitutionally established economic, social, and cultural rights, as declarations of good intentions regarding the different rights spanned by the right to education. By recalling the processes of Constitutional reforms in Latin America during the 90s, we notice a tendency to break down those rights that were not respected during the dictatorships of the 70s, and that began to be valued again during the 80s upon the return of democracies and human rights. Almost all of these Constitutions reviewed the “ought to be” of said rights. Among them, we find the right to education with all its opportunities. However, few indicators of constitutional observance were used, and are used nowadays, to analyse its effective enforcement. Neither to measure which laws regulate its exercise and with which level of efficacy and efficiency. Least of all, to establish measurements on the policies implemented by the Executive Power to enforce social, economic, and cultural rights, and especially the right to education (with gender equity, age, and other crossed variables.) The new Latin American Constitutions have followed a mostly regulatory tendency through which they went to a lot of trouble to detail every aspect that could be of any interest to Latin American development, valuing the importance of the education driver in the discourse. This, notwithstanding the fact that, afterwards, the reality of each country within the region would contradict what is established in the constitutional texts. We want to analyze whether established rights translate into policies and strategies for human development, and into cultural transformations of societies, especially for girls, and young and adult women. It is worth noticing that all Latin American constitutional texts refer to the right to education as a basic human right for every man and every woman. Additionally, all of them refer to a compulsory primary or basic education. And, so as not to infringe the compulsory nature, they also establish the free nature of said education when it is offered by the State, so that nobody is left without a minimum education. Few Constitutions establish that initial education should be free as part of this strategy that aims at every person having access to a basic education (Art.) At present, regional statistics show that girls and boys have equal access to an initial and primary education, but they also show that most of the people excluded from the system, most of the illiterates, are women. Adult women show a patriarchal culture that in many cases have subjected them to illiteracy since childhood. There are still some sexist standards in place, according to which girls are made for housework and for caring for other members of the family, and not to pursue their personal fulfilment with an independent life, displaying their freedom and abilities to the full. There also continue to exist some stigmatizing ideas about girls and their abilities in maths or in certain professions or jobs. Sexist stereotypes make it difficult for women to emancipate because they are still thought of as someone else’s property or as subordinated to their fathers or husbands, although reality is changing along with the transformation of cultural processes. (Information from the United Nations System, especially UNDP and UNICEF, 2007.) Only Cuban Constitution refers to absolute free education. Notwithstanding the critics that could be made to the political system in force in the country, statistically, Cuban education shows the highest levels and offers the highest equality to every citizen. Some Constitutions state that secondary education must be compulsory (Peru Art. 17; Dominican Republic Art. 8) or clearly establish that there shall be a tendency towards compulsory secondary education. Paradoxically, however, in virtually no Latin American country all persons have access to secondary education, least of all on a free basis. On the other hand, access for men and women is now equal, as showed by secondary educational results for men and women, although there are still “male” and “female” preferences regarding selection of secondary education offerings (humanistic for girls, countable or technical for boys; but these cultural standards are slowly changing.) Latin American Constitutions establish that education is a responsibility not only of the State, but also of the society and the family (Colombia, Paraguay Arts. 53/75; Ecuador Art. 66.) Constitutional texts within the region refer to the values of democratic education, the need to offer civic education, the promotion of people’s participation, the existence of public and secular education (Mexico Art.3; Cuban Constitution), and the autonomy of the university (Argentina Art. 75; Colombia Art. 41; El Salvador Art. 55; Venezuela Art. 102.) Undoubtedly, democratic education can also be considered as “non-sexist education”, without stereotypes included in educational texts and materials for men and women, and without any hidden curriculum assigning different roles to boys and girls, men and women. While there have been some advances regarding the modification of these cultural standards, especially in urban sectors of Latin American societies, changes are not enough, and girls’ and women’s discrimination in education systems continue to exist (e.g. the exclusion of pregnant girls or young women, or single mothers, from religious schools.) These unfair discriminations would call for different Legal protections from which men and women are not used to benefit in order to enforce their constitutional rights. Secular education, which would guarantee a non-sexist education, is not common within the region. In many countries, public education is full of religious contents, mainly Catholic, Protestant, and Jew; and, in said educational contexts, girls and women have unequal dignities and rights, they are assigned traditional roles, and they are “taught” to perpetuate their own subordination and that of other girls and women. Even more serious is the situation of boys and girls with different sexual orientations in said systems. Separation of Church and State is something in which Latin American societies still have to work, since, in their cultural and historical processes, they have remained stuck in feudal or old standards of values and conducts. Prejudice against girls and women, or other expressions of human sexuality, is huge in this kind of contexts, preventing social democratization and emancipation of those living in flagrant unequal conditions due to their sex. Many Latin American Constitutions expressly refer to education in the rural sector, the promotion of literacy and rural development (Dominican Republic Art.174; Ecuador Art. 67; El Salvador Art. 59.) Anyway, statistics show the intersection of variables such as sex, rural/urban location, class, ethnic group, and race, as elements in crossed relationship between oppressive systems, generating double or triple discriminations, and, consequently, more lack of opportunities. Costa Rican Constitution extends education benefits to those who would not be of a proper age to be included in the national education system, establishing permanent education as a constitutional principle (Costa Rica Art. 77.) This Constitution, as well as the Colombian and other Constitutions, also refers to the right to education of people with special needs (Brazil Art. 208; Colombia Art. 68; El Salvador Art. 56.) Many Constitutions refer to the promotion of technical education to favour employment. (e.g. Dominican Republic Art. 178.) Latin American countries do not have equal access to, and appropriation of, new technologies, which show the literacy level of societies. Access and appropriation can be useful, not only for human development, but also for overcoming gender gaps in certain classes, ethnic groups, races, or age groups. The studies carried out by Gloria Bonder are very interesting to verify the differences existing in the inclusion of men and women regarding new technologies (Bonder, 2007. Regional Interdisciplinary Program on Gender Studies and Public Policies PRIGEPP-FLACSO). Many Constitutions commit the government to provide food, clothes, or school supplies to students with limited resources (Costa Rica Art. 82; Paraguay Art. 75.) However, this same example is useful to demonstrate that these Articles sometimes are a mere declaration of wishes, since in Paraguay there is not such a provision within the education system. We neither know of any legal protection in this country to enforce this constitutional right. Many Latin American Constitutions establish respect for the mother tongue, the culture of the native people, and national identity (Peru Art. 17; Venezuela Art. 102; Paraguay Art.7.) Access to, and continuance in, school; freedom to learn, teach, investigate, and disseminate ideas; art and knowledge; pluralism of ideas and pedagogical conceptions; coexistence of public and private education institutions; appreciation of education professionals and the public teacher training, with a professional pay base and entrance exclusively by a public selection process of tests and qualifications; democratic management of public education; guarantee of a quality standard; respect for human rights, peace, work, cultural, scientific, and technological improvement; respect for interculturality, pluralism, and humanism; respect for critical thought, development of personality and its sense of dignity; and protection of the environment, are all principles included in Latin American Constitutions, that define education as an essential factor for the transformation and development of the individual and the society as a whole (Brazil Art. 206; Colombia Art. 67.) All of these are important elements for gender equality. At least, they are included in the constitutional texts and can promote respect. Many Latin American constitutional reforms have highlighted that education shall promote equal opportunities and results for men and women, and that education systems shall be based on the principle of no discrimination (Mexico Art.3; Paraguay Art. 73: that even talks about eliminating these contents.) Additionally, all constitutional texts revised include specific articles on equality among men and women in every area of life, and before the law. What would equal opportunities and results for men and women imply in education systems? First of all, it requires a political will beyond declarative will and the creation of laws establishing rights that cannot be enforced. Right, in a strict, non-abstract sense, meaning enforcement. This political will must be expressed in real and effective strategies and measures so that the right to education is a right enjoyed by men and women with equal opportunities and results since their childhood, and during their whole life. To that end, the State must provide the necessary economic resources, along with the services that cause this right to be valid. But it is also important for the authorities to achieve a cultural change. It is important that both the State and the society do not make do with simple constitutional and legal expressions of wishes (avoiding the demagogy of the public function and the lack of surveillance.) It is necessary to think and strategically plan the best transversal policy for equity, with plans, programs, and projects to that aim. Civil society must accompany this change demanding policies and monitoring them on a regular basis. To do this, it should use the legal instruments provided by the Constitution, the laws, and other regulations (e.g. the Legal protection.) Right to education with gender equity implies: equal access for boys and girls, men and women, in every stage of the system and without any difference arising from age or other factor; equal continuance in the education system, and equal possibilities to choose professions and employments without determinants; equality to graduate from any university course chosen without any kind of determinant; equality to occupy education decision positions in every level of the education system, even the highest ones; and income equality. Mainly, education to be free, to emancipate, to develop every personal ability and skill, to obtain economic freedom, and to be able to decide and have political freedom. Freedom regarding a person’s own body, his or her own space, as well as social interactions and participations. Equality in the eyes of the others; in human interactions. Education under equal opportunities shall mean: populations without illiterate, poor, or excluded women; without migrants; with persons with different sexual orientations free to live and decide; and girls and boys, women and men, educated as human beings, not as divided persons. Our Constitutions represent what is absent, the gap in the discourse about rights, and the institutionality we are missing (Laclau, Mouffe). In the words of Alicia Ely Yamin, education is an element of human dignity, and, without it, dignity is also a gap that we shall have to overcome with specific actions for new hegemonies. CONSULTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: - Alicia Ely Yamin (Compiler): Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Latin America: From Ideals to Tools. International Development Research Centre. APRODEH. 2006. Ottawa, El Cairo, Montevideo, Nairobi, N. Delhi, Singapore. - Bonder, Gloria: Regional Program on Gender and Public Policies (PRIGEPP) and Master in Gender, Society, and Policies. FLACSO. Argentina. 2007- Seminar # 1. Globalization and Gender by Gloria Bonder. Documents. - Colazo, Carmen: Statistics on Gender and Education in Paraguay, 2006. Data Systematization of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Paraguay and the Program of Equal Opportunities and Results for Women in Education (PRIOME). Asunción, 2006. - Compared Latin American Constitutions. - E. Laclau, Why Do Empty Signifiers Matter to Politics? J. Weeks, The Lesser Evil and the Greater Good. The Theory and Politics of Social Diversity, Cornwall, Rivers Oram Press, 1994. E. Laclau and C. Mouffe, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. Towards a Radical Democratic Politics, London, Verso, 2001. - United Nations System: Information on Education and Gender (UNDP-UNICEF)
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