Situating gender and education in Central Asia: An Introduction

This edited volume is devoted to a comparative analysis of gender equality in Central Asia. For over a century, gender equality has been one of the main priorities in educational reform in Central Asia. This book serves as a timely and pivotal contribution to the field of gender and education research in Central Asia, offering a foundational framework for comparative research on the ways the region’s educational policies, contents, processes and practices impact gender relations. The edited volume brings together established and emerging scholars from Central Asia and scholars conducting research on the region from the West to explore policies, statistical trends, and representative research on gender equality in education across post-Soviet Central Asia. In particular, the book provides (1) an overview of the development of policies aimed at the promotion of gender equality in education adopted by the governments of Central Asian countries since the countries became independent from the Soviet Union; (2) a comparative summary of statistics on change in gender equality indicators at various levels of education in the four countries throughout three decades of independence; (3) a sample of current research on various issues related to gender equality in education across the region by scholars from the region and beyond.