Progress towards gender parity in education: An appraisal

In April, 2000, representatives from 164 countries' governments, together with representatives from regional groups, international organisations, donor agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the civil society assembled in Dakar, Senegal, to set an agenda for achieving Education for All (EFA) by 2015. At this World Education Forum, the international education community adopted the Framework for Action (Dakar Framework) to deliver EFA commitments.
The Dakar Framework comprised two key elements: six EFA goals, and associated targets to be achieved by 2015, with the target of achieving gender parity and reducing all forms of gender inequalities in education.
The UNESCO publication 'Gender and EFA 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges' provides detailed evidence of how much has been achieved in the past 15 years, and also where considerable - some quite intractable - challenges remain. It highlights notable progress in gender parity in primary and secondary education, particularly in South and West Asia, while underscoring the persistent barriers to achieving gender equality in education. The report also narrates an array of country-driven efforts, some quite effective, to achieve and go beyond gender parity in education.
The report shows that progress towards gender parity in both primary and secondary education has been one of the biggest education success stories since 2000. Between 2000 and 2015, the number of girls for every 100 boys has risen from 92 to 97 in primary education and from 91 to 97 in secondary education. There have been about 84 million out-of-school children and adolescents since 2000; 52 million of them are girls. The number of countries that have achieved gender parity in both primary and secondary education from 2000 to 2015 has increased from 36 to 62.
Upon taking stock of the progress towards gender equality between 2000 and 2015, it is found that the world remains far from achieving gender equality in education and a gender-just society, despite some progress towards EFA goals. Looking more specifically at each of the EFA goals, four important trends can be highlighted: 1) Notable progress towards achieving gender parity in both primary and secondary education has been one of the success stories of the post-Dakar EFA era. Globally, women and girls have had better access to educational opportunities than at any other time in history, helping realise the rights of all girls to education. 2) As more children, especially girls, have gained access to school, awareness has increased of the barriers that continue to prevent millions of girls, as well as boys, from enrolling, attending, remaining and succeeding in school; many of these barriers have a gendered dimension. 3) School-based factors, including overcrowded classrooms, untrained teachers, a lack of resources and gender-based violence, prevent many children from receiving a quality education. Children who already face disadvantage and discrimination - especially girls - suffer the most from poor-quality schooling. 4) A shift in focus is needed from parity to gender equality to enable all, and especially girls and young women, to reap the full benefits from education.
At the end of the report, recommendations are provided to maintain or achieve gender parity and ensure gender equality in education: i) Education should be free and school fees should be abolished, and costs should be covered for textbooks, uniforms and transport. ii) Policies must be developed to address the problems that many girls face, as well as boys, in accessing and completing education. iii) For those who have been excluded early from formal schooling due to poverty, child marriage, early pregnancy and other challenges, 'second chance' options should be developed to support them to continue their education. iv) The governments should integrate gender issues into all aspects of policy and planning, not just in education but in all sectors. v) A comprehensive framework of legislative change, advocacy and community mobilisation campaigns is needed to eliminate child marriage, reduce early pregnancies and build a groundswell of support for girls' education. vi) The governments, international organisations and education providers must work together to tackle school-related gender-based violence in all its forms. vii) The governments should recruit, train and support teachers effectively to address gender imbalances in school. They should improve the remuneration and training of teachers and ensure that there is an equitable balance of female to male teachers in schools at all levels, including in school leadership.
The analyses and key messages in this well-documented UNESCO publication deserve careful scrutiny as the world embarks on universal, integrated and even more ambitious sustainable development agenda in the years to come.
The writer is an independent researcher.
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Gender and EFA 2000-2015: Achievements and challenges, EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2015
Published by UNESCO in partnership with the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative, 2015, pages 57