Progress to gender equality in education

In 2000, eight Millennium Development Goals were adopted by the international community as a way of measuring development progress in all countries up to 2015. The second Millennium Development Goal (MDG 2) seeks to achieve universal primary education for all, and the third (MDG 3) is concerned with the right of women and girls to enjoy equal educational opportunities with boys and men (see box below).

The MDGs reflect an international understanding of education as critical to wider processes of achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women. For example, research shows that education enables girls and women to better understand and take care of their own reproductive health, better protect themselves against HIV/AIDS and raise healthier children who then also go to school. It also enables them to contribute to the economic security of their family, community and society. Yet equal opportunities and schooling outcomes, and female empowerment through decision-making power and control of resources, cannot be achieved through access to primary schooling alone.

Since the 1990 World Declaration on Education for All (EFA), there has been significant progress made in addressing gender disparities in access to schooling. This has been particularly impressive in countries such as Benin, Bangladesh and Chad. Also in Mali, Mauritania and Morocco, enrolment rates for girls have increased by over 30%, making considerable progress towards achieving MDG 2. In Bangladesh, access to girls’ education has increased through initiatives such as community schools for girls, and training of women teachers.

There is some indication that achieving equal access to education for boys and girls (gender parity in enrolments) leads towards progress in the other EFA targets. However, Figure 1 concludes that of the 128 countries with available data, less than half are likely to achieve gender parity by 2005.

Figure 1: click to enlarge

Furthermore, more than 40% of the countries are at risk of not doing so by 2015. As gender equality is a complex issue to measure, it is very difficult to assess the extent to which these increases in girls’ enrolments translate into the empowerment of girls and women. Eliminating gender disparities in education is certainly an important achievement, but one that cannot be considered separately to the actual schooling experience of girls and the long-term impact on issues such as future job opportunities, political participation, and the likelihood of community leadership.

Assessing progress of the MDGs

There will be an official review of the MDGs in 2005, and Task Forces have produced interim reports on each of the goals areas, making initial suggestions for possible future adjustments.

The Gender Equality Task Force report is radical and controversial in its suggestions: although education is critical, on its own it is nonetheless insufficient in addressing the complex barriers to women’s empowerment. The report recommends adding additional targets. The Education Task Force report also recommends broadening the targets, in particular widening the scope of MDG 2 to cover a complete cycle of basic education of at least 5 years, and placing additional emphasis on secondary education. The two reports together stress the importance of education, and the multiple challenges in ensuring that all children benefit from it. MDG 2 will not be achieved unless substantial policy changes are made. Furthermore, for education to be a force for achieving women’s empowerment (MDG 3), we need to not only ensure access to schooling for girls, but also provide appropriate and relevant education, making sure that schooling is an empowering and learning experience for girls and boys.

Enrolment is not the only barrier to education, but retention and successful completion of a full cycle of studies are also critical for girls and boys. Other important issues include conflict, poverty, cultural practices, the availability of schools, syllabus design and the consequences of HIV/AIDS.

Working at community level

At the community level, efforts need to be made to ensure that there is a demand for education and schools, that families are motivated to send their girls to school and that they are confident they will be safe there. Economic barriers such as school fees, uniform and transportation costs have to be alleviated, as do costs related to lack of earnings as a result of sending girls to school. Puberty and sexuality add another layer to the challenge of achieving gender equality in education, and especially so in contexts where schoolgirls are vulnerable to sexual violence, to unwanted pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and sexually-transmitted diseases.

It is encouraging that the MDGs and the EFA targets, have increased access to and awareness of girls’ education. Collaborative initiatives have started to promote programmes and policies on gender equality in education. However, to ensure that increased activity will achieve maximum impact, it is necessary to examine what the collaborations are and to make sure that the perspectives of those involved within community-based activities are not lost.

No matter how local they are, community-level approaches to achieving gender equality in and through education are related to broader national education policy. The articles in this issue of insights education highlight the complexity of working with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs) and focus on barriers to girls’ education. The articles present some new perspectives on gender equality in education and also highlight the need for clear and collaborative approaches. Barriers to girls’ education such as a lack of sanitary materials for girls in rural Uganda, highlighted by FAWE, require work with girls, their families, communities and education authorities in order to provide long-term solutions.

Challender provides a timely overview of measuring where the world is at in relation to gender parity and equality in education. Although progress has been made in numerous countries, and in some regions of others, we need to be reminded that around 59 million girls remain excluded from school (see Figure 2). As Mazurana’s article illustrates, girls who have been active with fighting forces form one significant group of girls who are mostly unable to complete their studies. There are many reasons including poverty, exclusion and lack of support from their community. Community perceptions of girls – and particularly of menstruation – are also identified barriers for the girls FAWE works with, combined with a lack of family resources to spend on sanitary protection for girls. Issues of menstruation are also of concern to Vacha, working with pre-adolescent girls in India, who have been ‘invisible’ to mainstream policy. This article draws attention to inequalities in food distribution and to the associated health issues for these girls and advocates for government resources to address these.

Winthrop works with home-based teachers in Afghanistan and relates how they are critical in providing access to education for girls in a context where the gains made since the fall of the Taliban remain fragile. In Peru, girls’ access to education is relatively high and yet, as Ames points out, there are significant school, family and community issues which mean that low attendance and eventual early drop-out are common. These issues are faced not only in Peru but also in other countries of Latin America and beyond. Garrow and Kikampikaho are also concerned with community level activities in organising girls’ education.

Each article adds a different dimension to the complex issue of gender equality in education, such as girls’ experiences in times of conflict, puberty and menstruation, teachers’ own experiences and the importance of forming collaborative networks. The articles also provide some concrete recommendations for future action.

In conclusion, although the target focus of MDG 3 on education cannot address all the barriers to women’s equality and empowerment, the priority that education for gender equality has been given on the international stage is encouraging. The MDG focus can be used to make strong demands for education but it cannot stand alone. It has to be linked to other international instruments for women’s equality such as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action, which make connections between critical issues for girls such as poverty, health, violence, armed conflict, education and training.

While taking forward commitment to MDG 3, the experiences of girls, their parents, teachers, programme staff and researchers working at the community level need always to be taken into account. The combined power of MDG 2 with MDG 3 needs to demand substantially increased resources from governments (donor and otherwise), international financial institutions, international NGOs and other donors. It also requires increased activity by governments and their partners such as NGOs, CBOs and communities in the education sector in general, and with a special focus on girls. Comprehensive monitoring, evaluation and programme research needs to document the impact of different interventions, identify particularly promising strategies and analyse the transfer of local level programme knowledge to policy developments. These are critical components of what is required, in order to assess the long and short-term impacts of what is being done to make gender equality a worldwide reality.

Jackie Kirk
UNESCO Centre
School of Education, University of Ulster
Coleraine, BT52 1SA
Northern Ireland
T +514 276 7412 or
+44 (0)28 703 24137
jackie.kirk@mail.mcgill.ca

Stephanie Garrow
McGill University, Faculty of Education
3700 McTavish Street
Montreal
Quebec, H3A 1Y2
Canada
T + 514 525 5922
sgarrow@videotron.ca

Jackie Kirk is a Research Fellow at the UNESCO Centre, University of Ulster and Research Associate of the McGill Centre for Research and Teaching on Women. Her research focuses on education, gender and conflict, with a particular focus on the experiences of adolescent girls and women teachers in schools.

Stephanie Garrow is a Doctoral Candidate at McGill University. Her research explores models of inter-organisational relationships that facilitate community participation in gender equality initiatives, with a particular interest in girls’ education programmes.

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