Discrimination, gender and access to higher education: a research among the Mayas of the Yucatan, Mexico

Abstract

With this study we present two ideas that previous investigations in Mexico regarding dropout do not consider: first, approaching the subject from a qualitative and gender perspective (Lamas, 2003; Ruíz, 2002), since usually the existing information in Mexico is presented basically through statistical data. This allow us, using Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1999), to discover the strategies used by men and women, Mayan speakers, who overcame the obstacles in their path towards higher education and avoided dropping out. The second innovative aspect of our research consists of considering the Mayan speakers that do reach higher education as competent evaluators of the dropout problem among the Mayas, since they have journeyed through all the levels of education and have experienced the problems that their particular ethnic condition raises within a context that discriminates against them.