Duality of educational policy as global and local: the case of the gender equity agenda in national principles and state actions

Abstract

This study provides cross-national empirical evidence that substantiates the dialectic relationship between global and local contexts with regard to educational gender equity both as a national principle and as a priority for state action. Cross-national data on educational gender equity policies across 160 countries were gathered from comprehensive datasets compiled by the International Bureau of Education of UNESCO. A series of descriptive and multivariate analyses of the data suggest that a nation-state's adoption of a formal educational principle regarding gender equity issues is largely influenced by global epistemic models of education, whereas state actions for educational gender equity are contingent upon a range of concrete socioeconomic conditions. Educational gender equity policy appears to be an illustrative case that exemplifies the structural duality of educational policy through which nation-states successfully incorporate and display elements that conform to world models of education and yet preserve considerable autonomy of state action.