14 - Educational Policies on Gender Perspective in Puerto Rico in the Face of the Transnational Anti-Gender Crusade

Summary

Introduction

Since the 1970s, women's and feminist movements worldwide have driven public policy development to recognize women's human rights. The United Nations’ (UN) World Conferences on Women have been important milestones in this agenda. These policies are entwined with theoretical transformations within feminism and historical developments across different countries. The addition of gender perspective, also known as gender mainstreaming, is an example of these transformations and the efforts to interconnect discourses and practices related to the rejection of racism, xenophobia, transphobia, classism, and homophobia. These developments gave rise to intersectional feminism, which advocates for gender agendas addressing local issues. As with other discursive struggles, conflicting stances seek to gain ground in the political, economic, and cultural arenas.

Progress has not gone unopposed. Although the opposition is not a recent development, since the 1990s, it has been grounded in a framework that aims to intervene against gender perspective policies (Bracke and Patternote, 2018). The anti-gender crusade has created the concept of gender ideology to delegitimize equity and gender perspective policies. Gender ideology has affected local-level politics, especially in Latin America, where it has been associated with the rejection of educational policies (Barrientos Delgado, 2020; Campana, 2020; Correa and Parker, 2020b).

Within this context, this chapter aims to analyse educational policies related to gender in Puerto Rico and their trajectory since the 1970s. In addition, it discusses how recent neoliberal reforms are characterized by anti-democratic tendencies that have local effects while, at the same time, being part of the global reform agenda. First, I examine the discursive debates gender policies have sparked and their ties to international organizations that promote equity from a gender perspective. Second, I address the anti-gender discourses in some countries and their repercussions in Puerto Rico. Finally, driven by the need to further equity and gender perspectives in education, the development of human rights, and democracy, I assess the current situation. I assume a critical approach towards anti-gender discourse and the patriarchal system within which it is produced.