Contents: Lists of Tables, Figures and Maps Introduction Section I 1. Through the Life-Cycle of Children: Factors that Facilitate/Impede Successful Primary School Completion Vimala Ramachandran, Kameshwari Jandhyala and Aarti Saihjee 2. Private Schools for the Less Privileged: Some Insights from a Case Study Anuradha De, Claire Noronha and Meera Samson 3. Education and Girlhood Krishna Kumar 4. Is Equality an Outdated Concern in Education? Sadhna Saxena 5. The New Segregation: Reflections on Gender and Equity in Primary Education Vimala Ramachandran and Aarti Saihjee 6. Gendered Inequality in Educational Transitions Divya Vaid 7. Gender Differentials in Education: Exploring the Capabilities Approach Jeemol Unni 8. Contemporary Challenges to Women’s Education: Towards an Elusive Goal? Nandini Manjrekar 9. Why Women Teachers Matter in Secondary Education Kameshwari Jandhyala and Vimala Ramachandran Section II 10. ‘Sisters under the Skin’: Events of 2002 and Girls’ Education in Ahmedabad Suchitra Balasubrahmanyan and Nina Haeems 11. Gender Gap in Literacy in Uttar Pradesh: Questions for Decentralised Educational Planning Lori McDougall 12. Community Caretaking and Women Volunteer Teachers in Mumbai Slums Anju Saigal 13. Inequality, Gender and Socio-religious Groups Balwant Singh Mehta and Megha Shree 14. Globalisation, Higher Education and Gender: Changing Subject Choices of Indian Women Students Karuna Chanana 15. Do Parents Spread Educational Expenditure Evenly across the Two Genders?: Evidence from Two North Indian States Kausik Chaudhuri and Susmita Roy 16. Female Education: Changing Continuation of Gender Roles in Urban India Ambika Kohli 17. Does Education Pay Off? Subjective Expectations on Education in Rural India Annemie Maertens Section III 18. Education as Trutiya Ratna: Towards Phule-Ambedkarite Feminist Pedagogical Practice Sharmila Rege 19. Gender and Curriculum Dipta Bhog 20. Literacy, Power and Feminism Malini Ghose 21. Forging a Vocabulary for the Nation: A Feminist Reading of Language Textbooks Dipta Bhog, Purwa Bharadwaj and Disha Mullick Notes on the Authors While the last century has seen a considerable shift in the status of women in Indian society, gender equality in education continues to be influenced by three sets of issues: economy, society and culture; accessibility/availability of formal education; and gender norms. Socio-economic inequalities, connectivity, and cultural beliefs and practices, including a continued preference for sons across the country, play an important role in determining whether girls are given access to both primary and higher education. Gender and Education brings together wide-ranging debates that took place in the Economic and Political Weekly from 2000–17 on the social, political and economic realities impacting the education of women across the country. The sections analyse the different axes of inequality; the political, economic and social context of education; and pedagogy and curriculum, through a study of textbooks.