A fair chance - United Nations Girls' Education Initiative

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Perhaps frightened by the looming prospect of failureto achieve the 2005 goal, some policymakers haveattempted to shift the goalposts – redefining thetarget so that it only refers to numerical parity inprimary school enrolments. We have seen in thischapter that the true dimensions of the 2005challenge are much larger. Getting girls onto the firstrung of the education ladder will make little lastingimpact on gender equity, if girls find themselvespushed off the ladder as soon as they try to progress tothe next rung. Governments and donors must focuson increasing completion and attainment ratesamong girls as well as raising their learningachievements. Achieving gender parity in year oneprimary intakes is a useful starting point, butgovernments need to commit themselves to a cleartimeline and roadmap for progressing fromnumerical parity to a genuinely <strong>fair</strong> <strong>chance</strong> for girls inall dimensions of education.18
2. Why do fewer girls go to school?Girls face many barriers in their attempts to gain an Despite impressive progress in increasing primaryeducation. In most developing countries, the private and secondary enrolments for girls, genderreturns to girls’ education – the economic benefits inequalities persist in both primary and secondarythat families will receive – are usually much lower schooling in nearly all of the case study countries.than the social returns, and also lower than the A variety of factors from home, community, andreturns to boys’ education. This conspires with other school, determine educational outcomes. Girls,factors to encourage families to give priority to boys’ however, face additional obstacles in enrolling andschooling. The poorer the family, and the more attending school. These have been divided into threedifficult and costly it is for them to send children to groups in Table 6.school, the more likely girls are to be squeezed out byGirls are trapped in a vicious circle. Because they facethis logic.such difficulties in doing well at school, many of themThe precise causes and consequences of gender struggle to complete their education and to pass keyinequality in basic education obviously vary from national examinations. As a result, their parents arecountry to country, but there is a common set of less inclined to invest heavily in their education.constraints that have to be tackled. The mostPhulmani’s story highlights how endemic poverty isimportant of these are:keeping girls from realising their full potential at● Endemic poverty.school.● Schooling costs.● The burden of household labour.● Shortage of school facilities, especially in rural Son preferenceareas.Cultural and social beliefs, attitudes and practices● Negative and even dangerous school environments. prevent girls from benefiting from educational● Cultural and social practices that discriminate opportunities to the same extent as boys. There isagainst girls, including early marriage andoften a powerful economic and social rationale forrestrictions on female mobility.investing in the education of sons rather than● Limited employment opportunities for women. daughters. In most countries, formal employment inTable 6: Key constraints affecting girls’ education – a view from IndiaSystemic issuesAccess problems.Dysfunctional schools.Poor quality schools.Lack of teacher motivation.Inflexible education provision.Calendar and timings.Source: Ramachandran 1998.Content and process of educationGender stereotyping.Perpetuation of gender bias.Relevance of curriculum.Language issues.Lack of joyful learning.Lack of access to books, magazines,papers, etc.Lack of appropriate reading material forthe newly literate.Economy, society and culturePoverty/powerlessness.Status of women.Cost to family.Child labour/domestic chores.Battle for survival.Self-perception.Child marriage.19
Page 1 and 2: ContentsIntroduction 2Report object
Page 3 and 4: Box 1: Education Can Save Your Life
Page 5 and 6: travel on their own. As Sukhiya Yad
Page 7 and 8: 1. How big are the Education Gender
Page 9 and 10: Table 1: GER gender gaps for primar
Page 11 and 12: than 20 percentage points) in 15 co
Page 13 and 14: Figure 5: Education attainment by g
Page 15 and 16: Table 3: GER gender gaps for primar
Page 17: Figure 8: Change in educational att
Page 21 and 22: daughters to get a good enough educ
Page 23 and 24: Fees and charges for education have
Page 25 and 26: In Nepal, girls contribute at least
Page 27 and 28: fact that it is official policy tha
Page 29 and 30: 3. What has been done to close the
Page 31 and 32: However, international agencies cou
Page 33 and 34: Free primary education for allThe w
Page 35 and 36: Box 10: The Female Secondary School
Page 37 and 38: Ensuring girls’ safety anddignity
Page 39 and 40: Community schoolsThe emergence of v
Page 41 and 42: A number of other ‘alternative’
Page 43 and 44: 4. Beyond rhetoric:Making gender eq
Page 45 and 46: In Sub-Saharan Africa, the overall
Page 47 and 48: fewer resources, offer fewer hours
Page 49 and 50: governments to be able to commit ex
Page 51 and 52: Ilon, L. 1992. ‘Fitting girls’
Page 53 and 54: ANNEX 1Recommendations from the cou
Page 55 and 56: Ethiopia1.In order to reach the rur
Page 57 and 58: 4. Backward and forward linkages: I
Page 59 and 60: (iv) It has been illustrated that s
Page 61 and 62: women; legal rights counseling; HIV
Page 63 and 64: Female teachers1.Increase the numbe
Page 65 and 66: topics or subjects that will highli
Page 67 and 68: ANNEX 2Additional tablesAnnex 2 tab
Page 69 and 70:
no schooling, no schooling, primary
Page 71 and 72:
Annex 2 table 4: Percentage change
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