The Millennium Development Goals aim to achieve basic education for all by 2015. But can such global agendas address national and local gender inequalities and will they empower women through education? This thought-provoking book offers an opportunity to engage critically with existing and emergent conceptual frameworks and methodological approaches to this global debate. It is divided into three sections that: reconceptualise the definitions of gender equality used by various social scientific disciplines, international organisations and policy makers; illustrate the methodologies used to collect the voices of young men and women and their teachers telling stories of their success in lifting the burdens of poverty and negotiating traditional gender relations; trace the impact of global gender agendas on national education policies, such as citizenship education, poverty reduction strategies, and feminist activism around adult women's learning. Gender Education and Equality in a Global Context is an invaluable introduction to the range of conceptual frameworks and innovative research methods that address issues of gender education and development.

1. (Re)visiting education and development agendas: contemporary gender research Part 1: (Re)Conceptualising Gender Equality 2. Global values and gender equality: needs, rights and capabilities 3. Contested gender frameworks: economic models and provider perspectives on education 4. Global gender goals and the construction of equality: conceptual dilemmas and policy practice 5. Social capital, civil society and education for all: a gendered lens Part 2: Researching Agency, Engagements and Empowerment 6. Researching Transitions: gender education, marketisation and Islam in Tajikistan 7. Researching Gender: explorations into sexuality and HIV/AIDS education in Africa 8. Schooling girls: an intergenerational study of women's burdens in rural Bangladesh 9. Acts of citizenship: women's civic engagements as community based educators in Mumbai 10. Gendered experiences of teaching in poor rural areas of Ghana Part 3: (Re)Defining Global Equality Agendas 11. Globalising the school curriculum: gender, EFA and global citizenship education 12. Nationhood and the education of the female citizen in India 13. Poverty reduction and gender parity in education: an alternative approach 14. Adult learning and the politics of change: feminist organizations and educational action in Latin America