Gendered Barriers to Secondary Schooling for Young Women : The Case of an Urban Slum in Delhi

Education is basic human right .Secondary schooling for young women has lately been heralded as a powerful agent for social change. Despite, this wide-spread international acknowledgement of economic and societal benefits of secondary level education for young women such as reduced fertility, decreased infant mortality, increased productivity and poverty alleviation, there is still a wide gender gap between young men and women in terms of access and participation at the secondary school level. The research raises the question of ways in which gender intersects with poverty, socio-cultural and household factors in influencing access and participation of urban poor young women in secondary school. The research gives a voice to urban poor young women and other key informants such as parents, teachers, community leaders and workers in an attempt to understand the multiple and intersectional experiences of young women in secondary schooling. It also explores factors at the household, school and community level which facilitate secondary schooling for young women. Using the theoretical framework of Intersectionality, the study establishes how the interplay between poverty, socio-cultural and household factors are mutually supporting and interlinked in perpetuations of barriers which impede young women’s participation in secondary schooling and thereby continuing the gender gap. I conclude that the best way to address the issue of access and participation is to target household, poverty and socio-cultural factors concurrently in order to ensure that young women are able to enjoy the rights and benefits of secondary schooling.