people and planet

3
completion rates in 2014. Girls were often found to attend
school longer in countries with less discriminatory social
institutions, and the reverse was true in countries with
more discriminatory institutions. But the relationship
was not always straightforward: in more economically
advanced countries such as Kuwait, more women than
men completed lower secondary education despite
discriminatory legal and social practices (Figure 3.12).
But the removal of discriminatory legislation does not
eliminate discrimination. People continue to be oppressed
because of race, caste and ethnicity, including in education
systems (Krieger, 2014; Siddique, 2011). For instance, in the
United States, racial discrimination continues through
unequal distribution of education financing, strong
residential segregation and a ‘school to prison’ pipeline
affecting African Americans (see Chapter 5: Place).
INTEGRATED SOCIAL AND
EDUCATION INTERVENTIONS
ARE NEEDED
Inclusive social development will not be achieved by
interventions only in one sector. There is a lack of
evidence on sustained health-related behaviour change
through education. Similarly, the fact that progress
in gender parity in education has not systematically
translated to gender equality points to a need for
broader interventions and policies that integrate
education with actions such as legislative change and
workforce policies. More is needed to remedy social
challenges than single sector-focused interventions.
What are some possible solutions? Social protection
programmes can influence multiple outcomes at once,
including education. Gender-balanced lives can be
facilitated through integrated, comprehensive measures.
Education can contribute to innovation in the delivery
of essential services. Water, sanitation and hygiene can
be improved in communities, combining training with
community-building and improvements in governance.
EVIDENCE OF SUSTAINED HEALTH-RELATED
BEHAVIOUR CHANGE THROUGH EDUCATION
IS LACKING
While education helps people acquire knowledge, it does
not always lead to substantive long-term behavioural
change. People with education may know more about
the health risks they take but without developing
FIGURE 3.12:
Many countries with discriminatory social institutions have worse
gender gaps in lower secondary completion rates
Discriminatory family code subindex, 2014; and gender gap in lower
secondary enrolment rates, circa 2014
Discriminatory family code subindex
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
More girls enrolled
than boys
Kuwait
Bolivia
More boys enrolled
than girls
Guinea
0.1
New Zealand
0
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25
Gender gaps in lower secondary enrolment rates
Afghanistan
critical thinking and decision-making skills may engage
in risky behaviour. In a survey in Zimbabwe, persons
with secondary education were 30% more likely to have
comprehensive knowledge of HIV, yet there was no
evidence that they were more likely to get tested for
HIV or be HIV negative (Agüero and Bharadwaj, 2014).
In fact, the quality of the information provided is a
critical factor in ensuring education can play a positive
role in influencing behaviours, since educated people
are better able to critically process information. For
instance, early in the HIV pandemic in sub-Saharan
Africa more educated, wealthier individuals were more
likely to have multiple partners and unprotected sex. As
information on HIV transmission improved over time,
the more educated were better able to interpret the
information and change their behaviour. In recent years,
more education is associated with a lower likelihood of
HIV prevalence in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa,
including Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania (Smith
et al., 2012).
Similarly, systematic reviews of hygiene-focused
interventions, which include school-based, household and
community-level interventions, have often concluded
30 35
Notes: The discriminatory family code subindex of the 2014 Social Institutions
and Gender Index (SIGI) is composed of formal and informal laws, social norms
and practices such as legal age of marriage, early marriage, parental authority
and inheritance laws. The SIGI and subindex values are between 0 and 1, with 0
indicating no inequality and 1 indicating complete inequality.
Sources: OECD (2014b) and UIS database.
2016 • GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT 87