Taking action: achieving gender equality and empowering women

Education projections and country level education data
159
Table A1.1
Country predictions
by region for female
to male gross
primary enrollment
ratios, 2005
Number of countries
Source: UNESCO 2004.
Region
Reverse
gap (more
than 1.0)
Parity
(1.0)
On track
(0.90–
0.99)
Falling
behind
(0.70–
0.89)
Off track
(less than
0.70) Total
Developed countries 4 8 10 0 0 22
East Asia Pacific 4 3 7 0 0 14
Europe and Central Asia 3 4 13 0 0 20
Latin America and
the Caribbean 1 5 16 0 0 22
Middle East and
North Africa 2 4 8 4 0 18
South Asia 1 0 2 1 0 4
Sub-Saharan Africa 5 2 12 14 0 33
Total 20 26 68 19 0 133
Table A1.2
Country predictions
by region for female
to male gross
primary enrollment
ratios, 2015
Number of countries
Source: UNESCO 2004.
Region
Reverse
gap (more
than 1.0)
Parity
(1.0)
On track
(0.90–
0.99)
Falling
behind
(0.70–
0.89)
Off track
(less than
0.70) Total
Developed countries 9 3 9 1 0 22
East Asia and Pacific 5 2 5 2 0 14
Europe and Central Asia 3 4 11 2 0 20
Latin America and
the Caribbean 2 3 15 2 0 22
Middle East and
North Africa 9 1 6 2 0 18
South Asia 3 0 1 0 0 4
Sub-Saharan Africa 11 2 8 11 1 33
Total 42 15 55 20 1 133
Projections for 2015 show a decisive improvement in gender parity (table
A1.2). The exception is Eritrea, the only country that is predicted to drop below
0.70. If current trends continue, 57 of the 133 countries are expected to achieve
gender parity or a reverse gender gap by the year 2015. Another 55 countries are
on track, and 41 of them are close to achieving parity with ratios between 0.95
and 0.99. Of the 20 countries that are falling behind, 11 are in Sub-Saharan
Africa (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic,
Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, and Niger). 4 This
result suggests that Sub-Saharan Africa requires a significant amount of extra
attention in order to achieve the gender parity target by 2015.
Country prospects for meeting the secondary education target
Across the world there is greater variation in enrollment rates at the secondary
level than at primary level. In 2000 both South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa
had female to male gross enrollment ratios below 0.90. In Sub-Saharan Africa,
30 of 36 countries with data had gender parity ratios below 1.0. In South Asia
4 of 6 and in East Asia and Pacific 9 of 18 countries had ratios below 1.0. In
2000, 78 of 149 countries had gender parity or a reverse gender gap.