Marginalization and Lifelong Learning of Emboscada, Paraguay: Analysis of Adolescent Identity and Aspiration from a Gender Perspective

This research paper explores the issue of marginalization in the context of Lifelong Learning (LLL) among a group of young learners in Emboscada, Paraguay. It traces the main reasons behind the high dropout rates among female learners, the majority of whom are of Afro-Paraguayan origin. The research examines the main gender assumptions in programming and curriculum design. It shows how the mechanisms of marginalization have continued to oppress female learners and limit their choices in life despite the programme goals to integrate them into mainstream society and to prepare them for labour market opportunities. Their marginalization seems to have two sides: 1) the visible one is related to the limited access to economic participation, and 2) the invisible one is related to learners’ identity affected by curriculum and social norms structured within post-colonial contexts. Both sides of Afro-Paraguayan women's marginalization seem derived from faulty assumptions at many levels of programming and implementation. While the adoption of a gender perspective has played an important role in curriculum building and programming, this perspective also remains blind to processes of cultural, social and economic marginalization that shape the experiences of Afro-Paraguayans, both as learners and actors who have their aspirations created by self-identity.