people and planet

4
would legitimize the regime in power. This negative
effect of education on electoral participation dissipated
following 2008’s relatively more competitive election,
which initiated a power-sharing arrangement. Bettereducated
people re-engaged with politics when political
conditions allowed them to reflect their political
preferences more meaningfully (Croke et al., 2015).
Voter education campaigns can respond to
electoral misconduct
In newly democratic low income countries, elections
sometimes increase the propensity for civil conflict.
Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe provide examples of
election cycles marked by thousands of deaths.
Politicians may secure votes by stirring up greed,
rivalry and fear. Well-designed voter education campaigns
can reduce such behaviour. In Nigeria, an anti-violence
campaign, conducted in the run-up to the national and
state elections in 2007, involved town meetings, popular
theatre and door-to-door distribution of materials.
It reduced intimidation, voter turnout was nearly
10% higher where the campaign was implemented,
and independent journalists reported a decrease in
the intensity of violence (Collier and Vicente, 2014).
In New Delhi slums, in India, during the run-up to
the 2008 state legislature elections, door-to-door
distribution of newspapers provided information about
the performance and qualifications of the incumbent
and the two other candidates. The campaign not only
increased the average voter turnout by 4% but also
decreased by almost 20% the use of vote-buying as an
electoral strategy (Banerjee et al., 2011).
EDUCATION CAN HELP PEOPLE MAKE THEIR
VOICES HEARD
While voting is a pivotal form of political participation,
elections are not the only type of political or civic
participation in which citizens can exercise regular
control and influence on government actors and
hold them accountable. A wide array of political
activities can convey more precise demands and
generate more pressure than a single vote. Better
education can help people be more critically minded
and politically engaged in such activities. It can also
increase representation by marginalized groups, such
as women (Box 4.1).
BOX 4.1
Better education and women’s involvement in national and local decision-making bodies are closely linked
Recent years have seen a rising tide of women’s political representation. For example, more women than ever before are being elected to national assemblies, including in
Argentina, Portugal and Rwanda. The global average has been climbing and in 2014 was close to 22% – far from equality but an improvement over 14% in 2000. The adoption of
affirmative action measures – such as quotas on party electoral lists or reserved seats – has been critical in facilitating women’s entry into national assemblies.
Yet, in local governance, women remain under-represented. According to one estimate, just 16% of mayors of capital cities across the world were women in 2015. In
executive positions in governments, too, women continue to be very much in a minority and confined mainly to gender-stereotyped portfolios.
Structural barriers to women’s involvement and advancement in formal representative politics include their relative lack of material resources to support their move
into politics; their additional work burden, which denies them the time necessary to engage in politics; the prevalence of masculine models of political life and elected
government bodies; and cultural values such as those barring women from the public sphere.
But girls’ education helps give women the skills they need to take on leadership roles in public life – on community councils, in national office and on international bodies.
In many countries, such as Sierra Leone, women who consider entering politics often feel disadvantaged by a lack of education and of the experience of campaigning and
public speaking. A study drawing on the life histories of women leaders at various levels of government in eight countries, including Brazil, Egypt and Ghana, found that
those with higher educational levels held office in higher tiers of government.
Greater representation of women in politics and public office can also reduce gender disparities in education and provide positive role models for other women, increasing
their educational aspirations and achievements, and thereby improving female educational attainment levels. Across the 16 biggest states in India, a 10% increase in the
number of women involved in district politics would lead to an increase of nearly 6% in primary school completion, with a larger impact on girls’ education. Similarly, in
villages assigned a female leader for two election cycles, the gender gap in career aspirations shrank by 25% in parents and 32% in adolescents.
Sources: Beaman et al. (2012); Burchi (2013); Castillejo (2009); Domingo et al. (2015); Monteiro (2012); Powley (2005); Tadros (2014); UCLG (2015);
UN Women (2011, 2015).
2016 • GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT 99