Feminist reflections on the Peruvian university politics

Abstract

This study reviews the nature of politics within Peruvian universities, seeking to identify the extent to which they have considered gender issues. Since university students have traditionally been active in politics and have sought to address national issues involving democracy and the protection of human rights, the article focuses on student politics. Student politics have been controlled by men and their various outcomes, ranging from demonstrations to guerilla warfare, have occured in the context of an analytical framework that gives predominance to economic forces to the exclusion of ideological influences. The students have wanted, therefore, to defend and ally themselves with workers and peasants, and assumed that women’s issues are secondary to the promotion of social and economic justice. The universities in Peru have undergone a tremendous expansion in the last two decades. Despite this growth, the faculty continues to be mostly male. The growing presence of students from low-income sectors has contributed to radicalizing the university, yet the prevalent Marxist analysis subsumes gender within class issues. Although one of the most radical departments in the university — education — has also a large number of women, this has not yet led to the adoption of a feminist agenda. In the meantime, the feminist movement in Peru is growing outside the university and becoming very effective in the promotion of women’s rights. The article proposes a number of measures that could facilitate the university’s adoption of a stronger position regarding women’s concerns.

It is not even possible to talk about the political dimension in education; it is political throughout.

Paulo Freire, 1985.