UNESCO - Education for All - Background Documents - Mid-Decade Meeting 1996

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Education for Women and Girls: An ongoing Struggle for Equality

The World Declaration on Education for All adopted in Jomtien, Thailand, in 1990 affirmed that "The most urgent priority is to ensure access to, and improve the quality of, education for girls and women..." But have words been followed by action? In the past six years, governments and donors have increasingly recognized that basic education for girls and women is central to development, and many have taken action to reduce gender disparities in education.

Recent data indicate that girls' primary school enrolment jumped from 226 million in 1990 to an estimated 254 million in 1995 -- an increase by 28 million. Despite this marked increase in female enrolment, nearly three girls (6-11 years) out of ten are still not in school, compared to one out of ten boys. Literacy rates among women have increased only slightly:71 per cent of women in the world were literate in 1995, compared to 69 per cent in 1990.

"The increase in girls' enrolment is largely due to more awareness building at international and national levels and in local communities," says Winsome Gordon, chief of UNESCO's primary education section. "But the leaders of the world still have to prove that they are serious when they say they want to invest in education for women and girls. Generally, there has been much talk and too little action."

Complex web of obstacles

One would be hardpressed to find a government disavowing the benefits of educating girls and women. Beyond the concept of education as a human right, a solid body of research demonstrates numerous correlations between female education levels and increased economic productivity, improvements in health, delayed age at marriage, lower fertility and increased social and political participation.


Many countries have made major strides forward to provide education to girls in recent years. In China, for example, advocacy and social mobilization programmes help boost girls' enrolment in poor areas. (UNICEF/Roger Lemoyne)

The complex web of cultural, social and economic obstacles confronting women are also well documented. All too often, developing countries remain caught in a vicious circle: although education helps delay girls' marriage age and reduce fertility rates, current population growth, economic constraints and increase in poverty make it ever harder to provide them with schooling. When school costs become high for parents, daughters are taken out of school first.

Many other factors make girls' education problematic: the lack of women teachers, of sanitary facilities, and of schools within safe walking distance can all affect girls' participation. The link seems clear: Kerala State in India has the country's highest female literacy and enrolment rates and the highest proportion of female teachers, at 60 per cent, while the two Indian states with the lowest enrolment rates have less than 20 per cent women teachers.

Breaking down barriers

Despite the obstacles, many countries have taken seriously the task of giving priority to education for girls and women. Guinea is one example. By involving religious leaders in the call for girls to be educated, by ensuring that all teachers on the pay roll actually teach and by mobilizing local communities, Guinea increased girls' enrolment from 24 to 45 per cent in just three years.
"It worked marvellously with minimal resources!" said Fay Chung, head of UNICEF's education cluster, "More countries must make this sort of breakthrough."

Pakistan, in order to boost women's education, has encouraged 10,000 young women from rural areas to enrol free in a distance learning programme for teacher certification and the country is also relaxing the age limits for the recruitment of women teachers. Malawi has made basic education free. "So many more girls enrolled, the system began bursting at the seams!" says Gordon.
Gambia accepts female candidates who do not meet the criteria for teacher training and gives them a special preliminary programme. "Otherwise, these women will never be admitted. We want to remove the conception that girls are inferior to boys. They just need to be given the right possibilities," explains Gambia's minister of education Ms. Satang Jow. And Egypt is currently setting up innovative community schools for children in deprived areas, 80 per cent of those who attend are girls.

There are also regional initiatives to promote education for girls and women. For example, the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), founded by five women education ministers in 1993, has managed to foster dialogue within governments on how to improve female education.

In supporting government plans to reform education, some donors underline the priority they place on strategies that will improve access and quality of girls' education. The Canadian International Development Agency, for example, is contributing US$75 million over five years to a programme run in collaboration with UNICEF to boost girls' education in Africa.

The struggle for real equality of educational opportunity is well under way, but it is clear that the road will not be straight and easy.