TOWARDS LIFELONG EDUCATION FOR ALL — EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN

1985 Forward-looking strategies for the advancement of women for the period up to the year 2000 Third World United Nations Conference on Women, Nairobi 1993 Pan-African Conference on the Education of Girls, Declaration and Framework for Action, Ouagadougou 1994 International Women’s Day on the theme ‘They want peace, they make peace’ 1995 Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women, Beijing

HORIZON 2000 The World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace (Beijing, 1995) defined a legal and institutional framework which would not only ensure complete equality of women with men in the economic, social and political spheres, but also the possibility for them to accede to the highest levels of education, scientific knowledge and culture. This conference was the culmination of a series of meetings convened by the United Nations in their efforts to ensure the application of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. One of these meetings was the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994), which demonstrated how education, when accompanied by other measures which alleviate poverty, is the single most powerful contributing factor in empowering women and curbing demographic growth; another was the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995), which reaffirmed the importance of national policies in guaranteeing equal educational opportunities for women. (13) UNESCO has included the education of women and girls in its new Medium Term Strategy 1996-2001, guided by the orientations set out in the Platform for Action adopted by the Beijing Conference. The Organization will, in this way, contribute to the attainment of its threefold goal of equality, development and peace.

THE BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION UNESCO is particularly mentioned in para. 87, under Strategic Objective B: Education and Training of Women. UNESCO is requested to: contribute to the evaluation of progress achieved, using educational indicators generated by national, regional and international bodies, and urge Governments, in implementing measures, to eliminate differences between women and men and boys and girls with regard to opportunities in education and training and the levels achieved in all fields, particularly in primary and literacy programmes; provide technical assistance upon request to developing countries to strengthen the capacity to monitor progress in closing the gap between women and men in education, training and research, and in levels of achievement in all fields, particularly basic education and the elimination of illiteracy; conduct an international campaign promoting the right of women and girls to education; allocate a substantial percentage of its resources to basic education for women and girls. Priority: Woman, n° 1/1996.

Nancy Birdsall (United States) Executive Vice President, Inter-American Development Bank, since 1993 I am convinced that women bring a unique and indispensable perspective to management and policy analysis in such fields as preventive diplomacy, peace-keeping and development. Because they are the primary educators in our homes and societies, women have an unparalleled ability to instill values and communicate concepts. Their resourcefulness, born of necessity, can and should be utilized to enhance the effectiveness of the United Nations and to benefit international relations. Beijing and Beyond. Journalists Look at Women’s Issues into the Twenty-first Century, UNESCO, 1995 Federico Mayor (Spain) Director-General of UNESCO since 1987 We are not doing enough to close the gender gap. Despite the solemn declarations by world leaders to invest in women and girls, gender disparities are still the main constraint to achieving Education for All. There are fewer girls than boys enrolled in schools, and two-third of the world’s illiterate adults are women. We have said it many times before, but we must say it again with even greater force: a society which fails to care for the education of its daughters handicaps its future. Keynote Address, Education for All, Mid-decade Meeting of the International Consultative Forum on Education for All, Amman, June 1996

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FOOTNOTES:

(13) About 100 technical co-operation projects, financed either by the Regular Budget or by extra-budgetary funds, are (have been) aimed at promoting education for girls and women, particularly in Asia and Africa.

TO KNOW MORE (see also CD-ROM, Vol. I)

1. The School Education of Girls. Isabelle Deblé. Paris, UNESCO, 1980. (English, French, Russian, Spanish)
2. Knowing and Doing: Literacy for Women. Krystina Chlebowska. Paris, UNESCO, 1992. (Arabic, Chinese, English, French)
3. Women in Higher Education Management. Paris/London, UNESCO/Commonwealth Secretariat, 1993. (English, French, Spanish)
4. The Education of Girls and Women: towards a global framework for action. Paris, UNESCO, 1995. (Chinese, English, French, Spanish)
5. What about Women? A priority for UNESCO. Paris, UNESCO, 1995. (English, French)
6. Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace: a UNESCO Agenda for Gender Equality. Position paper, Beijing, 4 - 15 September 1995. Paris, UNESCO, 1995. (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish)
7. Women, Education and Empowerment: Pathways Towards Autonomy. Carolyn Medel-Añonuevo. Hamburg, UNESCO-UIE, 1995. (English, French)