13 October 2015
UN Report: Only 62 Countries Achieved Gender Equality in Education, Africa Lags Behind
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Fewer than half of the world's countries have achieved gender parity in primary and secondary education, according to a report compiled by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Global Monitoring Report (GMR) and UN Girl's Education Initiative.

The report finds that the gender equality gap in secondary school has reduced but remains wide, with the highest numbers of gender disparity occurring in the Arab States and sub-Saharan Africa, where no country has met the gender equality goal.

EFA Global Monitoring Report 201512 October 2015: Fewer than half of the world’s countries have achieved gender parity in primary and secondary education, according to a report compiled by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Global Monitoring Report (GMR) and UN Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI). The report finds that the gender equality gap in secondary school has been reduced but remains wide, with the highest numbers of gender disparity occurring in the Arab States and sub-Saharan Africa, where no country has met the gender equality goal.

UNESCO released a report, titled ‘Gender and Education for All (EFA) 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges,’ on the occasion of the International Day of the Girl Child. The report describes progress in gender parity as one of the biggest education success stories, with the number of countries achieving gender parity rising from 36 to 62 between 2000 and 2015. Still, the report documents significant challenges, with widening gender disparities at each level of education and the poorest girls remaining at a disadvantage. An online interactive tool shows differences among regions, urban and rural areas and rich and poor.

In the Central Africa Republic and Chad, half as many girls as boys were in secondary school.

Success for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development “is simply not possible without educated, empowered girls, young women and mothers,” said Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General. She added that educating a girl “educates a nation” and “unleashes a ripple effect” that changes the world for the better.

To date, efforts have focused on getting equal numbers of girls and boys in school, because the world has had no other way to measure gender equality, according to EFA GMR Director Aaron Benavot. He called for tackling the “roots of imbalance,” including social barriers and discriminatory social norms, and urged addressing equality as a broader concept. The report identifies gender-based violence and child marriage as hindering education attainment.

On literacy, the report finds an “astounding lack of progress” since 2000, with less than 70% of women in sub-Saharan Africa expected to be literate by 2015. Half of the adult women in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia cannot read or write.

The report recommends that education should be “really free” to achieve gender parity. It further recommends, inter alia: providing secondary education options for out-of-school adolescents; integrating gender issues into all aspects of policy and planning; designing policies to address issues faced by boys and girls in completing education; and tackling school-related gender based violence.

UNGEI is a multi-stakeholder partnership in support of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and EFA goals on girls’ education and gender equality.

The International Day of the Girl Child is marked annually on 11 October. [UN Press Release] [UNESCO Press Release] [UNGEI Press Release] [Publication: EFA Global Monitoring Report 2015: Gender and EFA 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges] [Interactive Online Gender Tool] [International Day]

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