The Millennium Development Goals aim to achieve basic education for all by 2015. But can such global agendas address national and local gender inequalities and will they empower women through education? This thought-provoking book offers an opportunity to engage critically with existing and emergent conceptual frameworks and methodological approaches to this global debate. It is divided into three sections that: reconceptualise the definitions of gender equality used by various social scientific disciplines, international organisations and policy makers; illustrate the methodologies used to collect the voices of young men and women and their teachers telling stories of their success in lifting the burdens of poverty and negotiating traditional gender relations; trace the impact of global gender agendas on national education policies, such as citizenship education, poverty reduction strategies, and feminist activism around adult women's learning. Gender Education and Equality in a Global Context is an invaluable introduction to the range of conceptual frameworks and innovative research methods that address issues of gender education and development.