ABSTRACT
This chapter explores Malaysian Indian women’s educational status from a gender perspective in the Malaysian educational context and the setbacks experienced by women due to gender, class and ethnic-based marginalisation. By exploring the narratives of Indian women who come from various socioeconomic backgrounds, we are able to understand the dilemma faced by Malaysian Indians. Marginalisation can be drawn from the findings in terms of women not completing their upper secondary education, parents prioritising their family survival over their children’s education, lack of effort to provide information on educational options for weaker students and lack of skills provision for B40 women. In addition, B40 Indian women in this study faced marginalisation due to gender norms that creates barriers for them to access resources for their upward social and class mobility. It also informs us on the setback in educational attainment caused by the entrenched patriarchal norms along with the Malaysian education system that does not assist impactfully on the development of Indians, particularly Malaysian Indian women. The narrative reveals that education has the capacity to bring about change. This study confirms that education has the potential to ease the dilemma of household chores through employment. This is because education, particularly higher education, has the capacity to expand the capability and choices available to Malaysian Indian women. The analysis based on the intersectionality of ethnicity, class and gender showed the heighten problems faced by Indian women belonging to an ethnic minority group, being female and from a lower socio-economic group. This group of women struggled with the triple risks of gender, ethnicity and class prejudices in society. However, the study shows that education is instrumental to awaken these women to claim their equal status and rights in the family and society in order to break the unjust inequalities faced by them.
