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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

women in education, El Salvador, developing countries, postsecondary education

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Spanish and Portuguese

Abstract

A low level of education, especially among women, is a basic characteristic of all developing countries. Research indicates that in third-world countries, “women remain under-represented at all levels of education relative to men. Fewer females than males enter educational programs…; fewer receive technical and vocational training; and women account for a very small proportion of enrollment in postsecondary education” (Kelly 1). A key factor inhibiting women’s education in developing countries is lack of participation. Nelly Stromquist identifies “economic conditions of the household, cultural and religious values, parental aspirations for children’s education, [and] distance to school” as determinants of educational participation. In addition to these external conditions, Tinker and Bramsen have identified “cultural attitudes which mediate against women’s full participation” as one of three major obstacles to women’s education (Finn 107). External obstacles will remain if underlying cultural attitudes do not value education for women. Kelly suggests that new research on women’s education “requires asking new questions that are generated by looking at the world from the perspective of women’s lives” (2).

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