TOWARDS LIFELONG EDUCATION FOR ALL — EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN

1963 First project for the education of African women, financed by Sweden, begins 1975 First United Nations World Conference on Women, Mexico City International Women’s Year 1976-1985 United Nations Decade for Women 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, United Nations General Assembly 1980 Second United Nations World Conference on Women, Copenhagen

A GLOBAL STRATEGY International Women’s Year (1975) and the United Nations Decade for Women (1976-1985) gave new impetus to UNESCO’s activities to enhance the status of women, which would henceforth be considered in a global perspective, and related to all the problems modern society has to face. Whilst proposing programmes specific to various types of discrimination of which women are victims, the Organization was, in future, to take into account all aspects of women’s issues. (6) The Sectors began to implement many more activities, in particular studies and research. (7) A teaching guide, Down with Stereotypes, was published in 1986 to combat sexist attitudes conveyed though words and images in children’s books and school textbooks. The 1980s also saw the development of important community initiatives, supported by UNESCO and UNICEF, to provide education to children, especially girls in rural areas. (8) Despite these efforts, and notwithstanding the undeniable progress made, in 1990 out of over 100 million children without access to primary school, it can be estimated that 60 million were girls, and that of the approximately 1 billion illiterate adults, (9) two-thirds were women.

EDUCATION FOR ALL: MAKING IT A REALITY The report of the International Commission chaired by Jaques Delors (10) stresses that a respect for equity demands a special effort to do away with all inequality between the sexes in the field of education, and that gender inequality lies at the root of the lasting situations of inferiority that affect women at every stage of their lives. The strategic importance of women’s education for development is today acknowledged and a very clear correlation has been established between the educational level of women on the one hand, and an overall improvement in the population’s health and nutrition, and a drop in fertility rates on the other. The World Conference on Education for All (Jomtien, 1990) succeeded in securing an international commitment to educate girls and women. One hundred and fifty-three countries adopted a Declaration which states that ‘The most urgent priority is to ensure access to education of girls and women and to remove every obstacle that hinders their active participation.’ For, whilst indispensable, political will alone does not always suffice. The behaviour of parents and communities must also change. UNESCO now advocates approaches which make use of awarenessraising and social advancement campaigns designed to increase the demand for education. These aspects were studied during meetings in 1993, in particular the Pan-African Conference on the Education of Girls held in Ouagadougou, which, beyond regional consensus, sought to pinpoint priorities for girls’ education and to devise national mobilization strategies through new partnerships, (11) and the New Delhi Summit (12) which recognized that education and self-reliance of women were significant objectives and potent factors contributing to social development.

TEACHING “CLINICS” FOR GIRLS IN GHANA The Ghana Education Service has instituted a programme to organize annual “clinics” to give girls in secondary schools the type of orientation that would help to remove the misconceptions about girls’ participation in the study of science, technology and mathematics in school and subsequently related careers. The Clinic has chosen to focus on girls in secondary schools because that is where the problem manifests itself the most. The programme, which has the support of UNESCO and the Commonwealth Secretariat, as well as other public and private organizations attracts girls from other West African countries. With its follow-up activities the STME Clinic is now a year-round effort to enhance the effectiveness of the study of science and mathematics among girls in the secondary school. The programme has the following objectives: To make participants aware of the gender stereotypes that tend to inhibit girls/women from entering STME-based occupations and how they can overcome these inhibitions. To encourage the girls to study the full range of science and mathematics-related subjects in secondary schools. To make participants aware of the application of science and mathematics skills in various occupations and in the production of goods and services. To provide opportunities for participants to explore science and mathematics-based careers through first-hand experiences. To assure participants, through role models, that they can succeed in STME-based occupations and at the same time maintain normal marital life. To create opportunities for participants to improve their skills in creativity and problem-solving. Source: World Education Report 1995, UNESCO.Experience quoted in The National Report from Ghana presented to the 44th session of ICE, Geneva, 1994.

Alva Myrdal (Sweden) Sociologist, leading authority on women’s rights, Director of the Department of Social Sciences at UNESCO from 1951 to 1955 The acknowledgement of women’s claim to human rights is not just a question of giving benefits to women.[...] It is not only a question of making a reality of those egalitarian principles, which all democracies must honour if they are to justify the title of democracy. The real issue is something much more fundamental: the participation of women as full partners in the economic, social and cultural life of a nation. As for UNESCO itself, it has devoted its efforts to trying to improve the status of women by drawing attention to the progress or lack of progress achieved in woman’s access to education, and by undertaking special investigations into the complex factors which either hinder or favour woman’s progress. The UNESCO Courier, No. 11, 1955 James Gustave Speth (United States) UNDP Administrator since 1993 Investing in women’s capabilities and empowering them to exercise their choices is not only valuable in itself but is also the surest way to contribute to economic growth and overall development. Foreword, Human Development Report, UNDP, 1995

                               

FOOTNOTES:

(6) See UNESCO’s Second Medium-Term Plan (1984-1989).

(7) Series of national studies on subjects as varied as the role of working mothers in pre-school education, the image and the role of women in the media, images of men and women in school textbooks, obstacles to women’s participation in politics, etc.

(8) UNESCO has devoted a series of publications to successful basic education projects: Saptagram in Bangladesh, PROPEL in India, TOSTAN in Senegal, etc., specifically directed towards the education of girls and women. In Botswana an education centre cares for teenage mothers.

(9) Estimates drawn up for the World Conference on Education for All, Jomtien, 1990. In fact, statistics in respect of literacy are estimates which should be treated with all the more caution in that they often disregard illiteracy of school-age children with no access to school.For example, to the most frequently quoted figure of 885 million adult illiterates in 1995 could be added several dozen million ten to fourteen year olds who have no hope of learning to read and write, and an equally large number of former literates who have relapsed into illiteracy, especially in developing countries.So, it can be estimated that efforts at ‘education for all’ today still concern more than one billion illiterates.

(10) Learning: the Treasure Within, Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century. UNESCO, 1996.

(11) This Conference, organized in 1993 by UNESCO and UNICEF in co-operation with the Government of Burkina Faso adopted an Action Framework for the Education of Girls and a Declaration which, inter alia, called upon ‘[...] spouses of heads of states, ministers and parliamentarians to form a pressure group for ensuring the education and welfare of the girl child’.

(12) Education for All Summit of Nine High-population Countries, New Delhi, 1993.