Abstract:

In this study, the right to education and gender were discussed through the school-life stories of women who participated in the Needle Knitting Course in a Public Education Center in a district of Turkey.

Receiving quality education is a fundamental human right. The right to education is a concept that is not limited only to having access to education; it covers all process and components of teaching and learning. Although it is defined in the Constitution and in international agreements as a fundamental right for everyone, there exist numerous indicators for many countries in the world that point to gender discrimination and inequality in terms of having access to this right. For example, according to the 2011 data of The Turkish Statistical Institute Address-Based Population Registration System, there are around 3.171.270 illiterate people in Turkey, and around 2.617.566 of them are women.

In this study, the interview method was adopted as the data collection instrument. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with several women, who participated in a Needle Knitting Course in a Public Education Center in a district and who were aged mostly above 35, and with the qualified instructor. Inequalities that women encounter in accessing education were described through their school-life stories. Their experiences of school life give important clues about the gender inequalities prevalent in the education system.

Keywords:

School, gender, right to education, access to right to education, adult education.