Indicators of gender inequalities: the limitations of gender-sensitive indicators in the context of educational complexities

ABSTRACT IN SLOVENE: Avtorica se osredotoca na problematiko-kazalnikov, se posebej spolno obcutljivih kazalnikov na podrocju vzgoje in izobrazevanja. Izhajajoc iz epistemoloskih podlag feministicne teorije problematizira nekatere splosno razumljene znacilnosti kazalnikov, kot so univerzalnost, linearnost, mednarodna primerljivost ... Ob pogledu na nekatere mednarodne kazalnike, predvsem za polje vzgoje in izobrazevanja, kot so bili razviti zlasti pri Zdruzenih narodih in Unescu avtorica tudi pokaze razlicnost prioritet in pomanjkljivosti zajema druzbene realnosti. Pokaze se, da je kazalnik lahko »lazno optimisticen« in da enostavne kategorije, ki so posledica konceptualnega manka, se zdalec ne morejo zajeti vseh vidikov druzbene realnosti. Sistemska diskriminacija ni samo del preucevanega podrocja, pac pa tudi instrumentov, s katerimi preucujemo, merimo in evalviramo. Gre torej za prispevek k razumevanju omejitev kazalnikov in njihovemu branju, ne pa za argumente proti uporabi kazalnikov, se posebej v procesu informiranja javnih politik. // ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: The author focuses on the problems of indicators, especially gender-sensitive indicators in education. She establishes her research on the epistemological bases of feminist theory and problematizes some generally understood characteristics of indicators, such as universality, linearity, international comparability ... Taking into account some international indicators, especially for education, as developed by United Nations and Unesco, she demonstrates different priorities and deficiencies in capturing social reality. It is shown that an indicator can be 'falsely optimistic' and that simple categories such as a lack of the consequence of a lack of concept cannot capture all the aspects of social reality. Systemic discrimination is not only part of the researched area, but also part of the instruments, with the help of which we research, measure and evaluate. This is, in short, a contribution towards understanding the limitations of indicators and their reading; it is not about arguments against the use of indicators, especially in the process of informing public policy. Reprinted by permission of Solsko Polje