Summary

EDUCATION FOR ALL GLOBAL MONITORING REPORT 2015
GENDER SUMMARY
Poor primary attainment and dropout from
secondary education reinforce disparity
Gender disparity in the numbers of children entering
and completing lower secondary schooling has
narrowed, although many countries are far from
achieving parity. Analysis of household survey data
from 78 countries for the 2015 GMR shows the lower
secondary attainment rate increased from 25% in
1999 to 31% in 2008 in low income countries, from
52% to 64% in lower middle income countries and
from 81% to 85% in upper middle income countries.
It also shows that, on average, the number of girls
attaining lower secondary increased from 81 per 100
boys in 2000 to 93 in 2010.
Most disparity in lower secondary attainment in
these countries is accounted for by initial disparities
at the primary level. Although boys and girls who
completed primary school were on average equally
likely to transition to lower secondary, fewer girls
had enrolled in primary school in the first place.
Thus fewer girls are attaining primary education and
greater numbers of girls are being left behind.
Some poorer countries, such as Malawi and
Cambodia, have seen considerable progress
towards parity in lower secondary attainment, driven
almost exclusively by progress in reducing disparity
in primary attainment. In Cambodia, where only 66
girls attained a primary education for every 100 boys
in 2000, parity in primary education was achieved
within 10 years. This contributed to progress
towards parity in lower secondary with a GPI of 0.90
in 2010. Malawi moved towards parity in primary
attainment but despite this progress, 90 girls for
every 100 boys attained primary education, 82 for
every 100 made the transition to secondary, and only
75 survived to the end of lower secondary. In both
Malawi and Cambodia, disparities increase at entry
to and completion of lower secondary, indicating
significant bottlenecks for girls (Figure 12).
In richer countries, such as Brazil and Tunisia,
increasing levels of dropout among boys has led to
fewer boys than girls completing lower secondary
education. In Brazil, the GPI for lower secondary
attainment rose from 1.12 in 2000 to 1.18 in 2010.
In Tunisia, parity in primary attainment and entry
to lower secondary was achieved by 2010, where
previously disparity existed at the expense of girls.
However, fewer boys than girls now last to the final
grade of lower secondary. In Viet Nam, a gender gap
has largely disappeared.
At upper secondary, boys are more likely than girls
to drop out. For the 78 countries with data for 2010,
only 95 boys for every 100 girls completed upper
secondary, indicating little change since 2000. In
countries where boys were already disadvantaged
in lower secondary attainment, such as Brazil, this
further widened gender disparity.
Completion rates for adolescent boys have been
a growing concern in OECD countries where, in
2011, girls’ graduation rates from upper secondary
exceeded those of boys in all countries except
Germany. On average, 73% of girls compared with
63% of boys completed upper secondary education
on time. Gaps were widest in Iceland and Portugal,
where completion rates of girls exceeded those of
boys by 20% or more (OECD, 2012b).
More women than men in tertiary education
except in two regions
More women than men were enrolled worldwide in
higher education institutions in 2012. The average
GPI was 1.04, a change from 1999 when men and
women were at par in tertiary enrolment. However,
there are regional variations. In 2012, on average,
as few as 8 women for every 10 men were enrolled
in tertiary education in sub-Saharan Africa, while
fewer than 9 men for every 10 women are studying
at this level in North America and Western Europe,
and Latin America and the Caribbean (Figure 13).
Only 4% of countries achieved parity in tertiary
education in 2012, a percentage that has remained
unchanged since 1999. In addition, the percentage
of countries where there are fewer than 90 males
enrolled for every 100 females has been increasing
constantly from 53% in 1999 to 60% in 2005 and 64%
in 2012 (Figure 1).
Gender parity in learning outcomes yet
to be achieved
Achieving gender equality in education requires not
only that girls and boys have an equal chance to
access and participate in education, but also that
their educational achievements are not adversely
affected by their gender. More research is needed
to understand factors affecting gender gaps in
performance across subjects and at key stages in
the education cycle.
Most
disparity
in lower
secondary
attainment
is accounted
for by initial
disparities
at the
primary
level
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