Interrogating the Rights Discourse on Girls’ Education: Neo-Liberalism, Neo-Colonialism, and the Beijing Platform for Action

Purewal, Navtej

Abstract

This article examines how girls’ education since 1995 has emerged as a prominent symbol within the
‘rights’ discourse coming out of the Beijing Platform for Action. By highlighting the neoliberal and neocolonial
processes during this time, particular shifts are traced which show how girls’ education has been a symbolic
part of the geopolitical canvas in Pakistan and Afghanistan alongside the ‘war on terror’ and universalisation of
education. The article refers to alternative voices which have attempted to disrupt the global narrative of the
post-Beijing ‘rights’ agenda and points to the problems of this in the context of occupations, militarisation, and
markets being used simultaneously as strategies for global governance and order.

Citation

Purewal, N. (2015). Interrogating the Rights Discourse on Girls’ Education: Neo-Liberalism, Neo-Colonialism, and the Beijing Platform for Action. IDS Bulletin, 46(4), 47-53. https://doi.org/10.1111/1759-5436.12156

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Sep 10, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 12, 2019
• Journal: IDS Bulletin
• Print ISSN: 0265-5012
• Electronic ISSN: 1759-5436
• Publisher: Institute of Development Studies
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 46
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 47-53
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1759-5436.12156