Commentary on the judgment of the Spanish constitutional court (stc 31/2018) about single-sex education

Abstract

Single-sex education is one of the central issues at the heart of the profound debate
in society about the constitutional right to education. While social and political sectors
see it as a pedagogical method protected under the freedom of education, others consider
that it perpetuates the historical discrimination against women in education. The
Constitutional Court ruled on this issue (STS 31/2018), although, as a reflection of the
political and social debate, the plenary was deeply divided. The purpose of this paper is
to analyse the statements of the constitutional magistrates on the consideration of
differentiated education as a pedagogy protected by the Spanish Constitution or, on the
contrary, as discrimination on the grounds of sex prohibited by the constitutional text.