Anti-gender agenda in education

Transnational comparative relational analysis of Brazil and Chile

Abstract

This article investigates the similarities, particularities, and contradictions present in the anti-gender agenda in Brazilian and Chilean education. To this end, we use theoretical and empirical data constructed in ongoing research. In the first section, we present the theoretical-methodological framework, which allows us to analyze in a comparative and relational way the advancement of the agenda in transnational contexts, characterizing and contrasting its processes of defense, resistance, and implementation. Next, we present the conceptualization of the agenda, elements of its discourse, characteristics of its agents, and a brief historical contextualization of the phenomenon in Brazil and Chile. Based on the analysis of the theoretical and empirical data, we observe different levels of institutionalization of the anti-gender agenda, although its antidemocratic and exclusionary advancement has resonated in both countries. In both, contingent alliances are built by different hegemonic actors, in addition to the articulation with racist and anti-migration policies. As a way of learning from comparative analysis, we see the importance of curbing discourses and policies that legitimize this agenda, as seen in the Brazilian context and, compared to Brazil, Chile demonstrates a more robust normative framework for gender and sexuality policies, which protects its populations and can prevent its advancement.