Women as teachers. Women make up the vast majority of primary school teachers in Central America. They receive salaries far below what almost everyone agrees would be an acceptable wage for a professional. They are expected to attend weekend and vacation in-service training sessions, and are expected to figure out childcare, transportation, and food. In the informal education sector, when developing women-centered professional development programs, women's unique needs are addressed through alternative meeting hours and provision of childcare.
Girls are physically and verbally harassed in the school or classroom.
Currently, gender theory is looking at the ways that different pedagogies are more effective for some children than others, and in particular at how girls tend to learn in comparison to boys. A person's gender should not have an impact on which classes they are allowed to take, especially math and sciences, but their gender can and should have an impact on the pedagogy used to teach that person. Jenny, one of those Central American girls, is one example. She repeated ninth grade three times, and finally stopped going to school altogether. And in fact, studies indicate that for women who work in the sizable informal sector, their education has little positive effect on their economic future.