ABSTRACT
Improvements in gender and social equality in education are influenced by three interlocking sets of issues: systemic issues; the content and process of education; and the economy, society, and culture. There is almost unanimous acceptance of the fact that gender, as a category, needs to be seen within its larger social, regional, and local context. In India, it is therefore important to understand the intermeshing of poverty, social inequality, and gender relations. The three intersect in different ways in different regions of the country – with reinforcing each other in some areas and offsetting each other in others. Gender is part of a complex social and institutional structure in India; it is therefore necessary to look at gender inequalities in education within the broader framework of social, economic, and location-specific inequalities, on the one hand, and the prevailing school system on the other.
