Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

222 B. LAKSHMI
minority ethnic identity. The school does not mitigate these inequities;
rather, it strengthens them. The case study of R, however, exemplifies the
role of ‘cultural capital’, human initiative and hard work, which can successfully
overcome the structural constraints. The resistance offered by
S and J to the monolithic messages in the classroom on the one hand and
the initiatives of students such as R on the other are significant pointers
to the role of human agency in overcoming gender stereotypes in education.
It is in examples such as these that a ‘discourse of possibility’
(McLaren and Giroux 1997) must be found.
CONCLUSION
The major challenge for democratic governance in the twenty-first century
is participation and inclusion as safeguards against exclusion. Perhaps the
answers are to be found in Amartya Sen’s theory of ‘social choice’ and
the ‘capabilities approach’ (see Nussbawm 2006). A broad view of social
choice can shift our focus from problems of aggregating individual preferences
to participation and inclusion in democratic decision-making,
including educational decisions. With regard to policy making in the realm
of education, this means taking women’s evaluations as situated agents
seriously and enhancing their participation in policy discourse (Peter
2006). The capabilities approach can ensure gender justice, provided those
capabilities are clearly specified; this is especially significant for social
justice in the case of women. The need is to define democracy and development
in a different way. A rethinking about participation and inclusion
in educational decision-making calls for fair procedures and for giving
women a chance to be heard and be involved in collective evaluations
and decisions. In order to have an active and a ‘sex-equal citizenship’, women
need to be empowered and included in the public sphere through communication,
speech and action (see Mouffe 1992).
The reinforcement of gender stereotypes through modern education
in Mizoram can be tackled head on by ensuring ‘thick citizenship’ for its
women, the essence of which is a sense of belonging, horizontal camaraderie
and the treatment of women as equals. In the tribal society of Mizoram,
where kinship and community ties have traditionally been strong, the shift