Talim, Dindari aur Shaadi (Education, Religiosity and Marriage): Choosing Madrasa Education for Girls

Abstract

Drawing on months of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper explores the rising salience of girls’ madrasas in India and the feminisation of madrasa enrolments. It argues that rather than the rhetoric of religious conservatism that is conventionally applied to the choice of madrasa education, a range of intersecting factors shape the educational choices of Muslim parents. Employing narratives from the field, it illustrates how the increasing demand for girls’ education emanating from within Muslim communities interacts with larger structural factors, socio-cultural concerns, economic considerations, gender norms and anxieties, leading parents to opt for madrasa education for their daughters.