Does curriculum matter?: revisiting access and women's rights to education in the context of the UN Millenium Development Targets

This article has been published in Theory and Research in Education, Vol. 4, No. 1, 85-99 (2006) ) and is available to subscribers in both print and online formats.This article discusses the relevance of curriculum to current UN Millenium targets to extend access to education and equality in education for women. It argues firstly, that it is contradictory to be concerned about women’s access to education but leave curriculum out of the discussion; secondly, that curriculum is not adequately seen as a choice between imposing new universal values or leaving cultural traditions untouched, but is about choices within a situation where cultural traditions are neither untouched nor monolithic; and thirdly that attention to who speaks and who is heard in developing and assessing new practices remains important in any initiatives to extend education rights for women.This article has been published in Theory and Research in Education, Vol. 4, No. 1, 85-99 (2006) ) and is available to subscribers in both print and online formats