Paper short abstract:

Higher education (HE) choice is a spatial phenomenon which unfolds along gendered lines. This paper is based on a 5-year project ‘Fair chance for education’ on gender and HE choice in Haryana, India, and considers how spatial gender norms of educational choice can be challenged.

Paper long abstract:

In North India, Higher Education (HE) choice is a spatial phenomenon that operates along binarised gendered lines for young women and men, particularly in rural areas where conservative, patriarchal gender norms are more prevalent and where a history of HE in previous generations is less likely. Families show a clear preference for young women attending the nearest HE college, irrespective of daughters’ academic record or the college's reputation, in order to protect young women’s honour before marriage. For men, there is a clear preference for sons to attend the best possible college within the family’s means, irrespective of distance. These spatially inscribed gender norms result in gender disparities in HE choice, which in turn affect the benefits young people can access through attending HE. Our paper discusses the extent to which rural/semi urban HEIs, in an era of massification, are presently contributing to social justice objectives in reducing inequalities in life chances and enabling informed decision making by disadvantaged young women and men. It is based on a five-year project ‘A Fair Chance for Education: Gendered Pathways to Educational Success in Haryana’, funded by Fair Chance Foundation (2017-2022). The project adopted an evolutionary methodology which ensured that the phased research findings led to a collaborative programme of activities designed to contribute to positive social change. It explores the gendered spatial dimensions of HE choice, and how the project developed a programme of college taster days to demystify HE as a way of challenging spatial gender norms of HE choice.