Schooling, gender and development in Trinidad and Tobago: Work in progress

Abstract

The first part of this paper outlines educational provision and participation in schooling during the colonial and modern period, focusing on the development of a gender divided curriculum, and the emergence of a domestic ideology for the education of girls. The second part briefly considers some aspects of gender differentiation in the education system, focusing on attitudes and aspirations towards school and work among students from secondary schools in Port of Spain. It suggests that despite the dominance of a domestic ideal for women in official reports, and widespread differences between girls and boys in terms of their distribution in the curriculum, attitudes, and aspirations, girls are resisting the assumption of a primarily domestic role