Historically girls' education has fallen behind that of boys' education in most countries, despite education being recognized as a human right. This book focuses on gender equality by exploring the interrelations between gender, education and poverty. The individual chapters engage with recent themes on girls' schooling by addressing the evolving range of conceptual approaches such as the capabilities approach, citizenship theory, feminist theory and theories of human and social capital. The issues explored include: the role of the State across the public-private divide with regard to educational policies and outcomes; the impact of economic and social changes on gender identities and associated livelihood opportunities; how the concerns of community survival and cultural traditions affect learning decisions by households and communities; and the interrelations between sexuality, family reproduction strategies and learning and livelihood. This collection of new academic work on the theme of gender and education also demonstrates a range of methodological frameworks for analyzing gender and education with a development context. The book continues to explore these frameworks on an international level raising new issues and questioning current beliefs.