Chapter 11: Women, Poverty, and Education in Peru: An Overview of Access and Performance

Peru has experienced unprecedented economic growth in the past decade, which has resulted in the steady growth of the gross national income per capita and the reduction of the percentage of people living at poverty levels. Peru’s economic growth has also been accompanied by increased public expenditures in social areas, particularly in education. With all these advancements, the expectations of increased social change are also greater. In this chapter, I will explore the changes that have taken place in the relationship between gender and educational access and performance. Current information indicates that the gap in educational access has basically closed, with women having access to education mostly at the same rate as men, culminating a trend that started years ago. And even though in general this is a significant improvement in the condition of women, it appears there is less knowledge and discussion about other gender issues in which the education sector is not performing as well. Beyond the surface, we examine other remaining concerns about access of women to secondary education, to persistence and graduation, and performance in areas like mathematics. This is a particularly important issue when the progress of women in rural areas of the country is examined, in which places there is still much work to be done to reduce the gap.