Anti-gender discourse and LGBT and feminist agendas in state-level education plans: tensions and disputes

Abstract

This article presents the results of a research on the use of gender in education plans of 25 Brazilian states and the Federal District, enacted between 2014 and 2016. We demonstrate that the disputes around the gender issues in the plans bespeak that there is not just one way of excluding or excluding the topic, namely: the veto; leaving out the word and other related terms; the specification of gender as women's right and the right of the LGBT community in order to ensure access to and permanence in quality education, and the partial use associated with human rights, the guarantee of some women's rights, and the culture of peace. Over half the plans included issues related to the women's agenda in a gender perspective. Almost one third of the plans clearly express that ensuring access and permanence with quality involves confronting gender inequalities. The fixed and binary nature of the opposition between male and female meanings was problematized when fighting sexism, machismo, and LGBTphobia was embraced. However, several plans indicated the move of conservative agendas by excluding gender, by cutting or limiting the LGBT agenda, and by including items that demand that dealing with such topics be subject to family approval. Conclusion is that the conservative anti-gender advance, at least in the period under screen, is opposed to maintaining a number of political achievements. Therefore, contradictions remain in the disputes of power through the contribution of gender in the social function of education.