ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I explore civil society as a terrain of struggle. The women in my study1 belong to the same socially excluded communities they seek to work with; their own lives are not very different from those whom they seek to teach. Many of them have dropped out of school or further education; only a small minority continue in higher education. The story of their entry and action in the arena of community-based education work is embedded in a complex interplay of class and gender relations, as well as social relations they share with community members.
