Protesting Progress — Calls To Include Gender Equality In Education Cause Uproar In Peru And Beyond

Peru is the latest country to become entangled in a pulse between greater understanding of gender and the push for equality, and a conservative reaction to what they conceive as "gender ideology" and indoctrination. 

In recent days, Peru has been divided by a proposal to include gender equality in the school curriculum. Protesters, mobilized by evangelical and conservative groups, denounced it as a move to educate children on what they call "gender ideology", a scheme to "confuse our children", and even "a sexual perversion". Kary Stewart's piece for Vice outlines the debate around this particular proposal.

Peru, however, has not been the first country to take part in this seemingly larger debate about the role of sex and gender education. Colombia also struggled with accusations by religious groups that the government was trying to indoctrinate children in "gender ideology". The country's education minister, Gina Parody, last year proposed mixed bathrooms, changes to reduce the emphasis on gender in uniforms, and the creation of a manual for students on sexual orientation. Mexico, too, saw its streets flooded by protestors against same-sex marriage in September 2016. With support from the country's Catholic institutions and the Pope himself, demonstrators called "to defend their families and children" from "government imposition" of "gender ideology in education". 

Gender ideology is not really a thing, but the construct is a convenient straw man that can be used to advance different political purposes. And as the countermovement to minority rights has become stronger and a truly global phenomenon, it's crucial to keep promoting a better understanding and comprehension about gender and how it relates to the rights of minorities. Education, indeed, plays a key role.