people and planet

14
BEYOND PARITY: MEASURING SUBSTANTIVE
GENDER EQUALITY IN EDUCATION
The formulation of target 4.5 does not refer to gender
equality in education unlike the fifth EFA goal. The
formulation of SDG 5 and its targets on gender equality
is much stronger. Moreover, the Education 2030
Framework for Action explicitly recognizes gender
equality as a guiding principle, linked to the realization of
the right to education and referring to the need for girls
and boys, women and men, to be equally empowered ‘in
and through education’ (UNESCO, 2015b).
Equalizing education access for all girls and boys is
a crucial first step towards realizing gender equality
in education and the intrinsic right to education for
all. Yet, schools, as concrete institutions in education,
can reproduce existing gender inequality rather than
challenge it (Murphy-Graham, 2009). This can manifest
through teacher behaviour, expectations and interactions
with male and female students; peer group norms; the
curriculum (whether gender is explicitly addressed or
not); the distribution of education resources; and school
structure, organization and management.
In addition to reducing disparity in education attendance
and completion, education for gender equality entails
building knowledge and skills to empower disadvantaged
girls or boys, depending on context. Students and
teachers need to reflect on existing norms and traditions
and be encouraged to challenge them. Gender-based
discrimination and violence need to be addressed.
Healthy life choices should be supported, including with
regards to sexual and reproductive health. Interventions
to achieve these results can take place through teacher
training and curricular reform, among other means.
In addition to educational opportunities, five other
domains help frame the discussion of gender equality
in education. These include gender norms, values and
attitudes (many of which can be influenced through
education); institutions outside the education system; laws
and policies in education systems; resource distribution;
and teaching and learning practices (Unterhalter, 2015).
The adoption of the parity index by the Inter-agency and
Expert Group on SDG Indicators to monitor the gender
aspects of target 4.5 extends its use beyond enrolment
ratios to all education indicators, including learning
outcomes. While this is positive, there are indicators that
could track equality across all six domains using available
and often globally comparable data (Table 14.2).
Well-established indicators exist on norms, highlighting
contextual factors with a direct impact on gender
equality in and outside education (UNICEF, 2014c; Loaiza
and Liang, 2013). For example, 45% of women aged 20
to 24 in South Asia were married before age 18 (UNICEF,
2015e). The World Values Survey suggests that women
in countries with great gender inequality are more likely
to agree that a university education is more important
for boys than girls, and that men have more right to jobs
when they are scarce (Bhatkal, 2014). Among adult men,
20% in Croatia, 43% in Brazil, 66% in Rwanda and 81% in
India believed a man should have the final word about
decisions in the home (ICRW and Instituto Promundo,
2011). The global lifetime prevalence of intimate partner
violence among women who have ever had a partner is
30% (WHO, 2013). The share of women aged 15 to 49 who
say a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife
TABLE 14.2:
Potential indicators of gender inequality in education, by
domain
Domain
Educational opportunities
Gender norms, values and attitudes
e.g. sexual and reproductive health
decisions; women’s autonomy and
empowerment: domestic violence;
household expenditure decisions
Institutions outside education
e.g. legislation forbidding gender-based
discrimination
Laws and policies in education systems
e.g. guarantees of the right to education
for girls and women
Resource distribution
e.g. gender parity in teacher pay,
water and sanitation, training, learning
materials
Teaching and learning practices
e.g. teacher and student gender-related
attitudes and interactions
Source: Based on Peppin Vaughan et al. (2016).
Indicator
• Gender parity index on enrolment, transition and
completion rates, and learning outcomes (alone or gender
interacting with location and wealth)
• Percentage of population aged 20 to 24 married before
age 18
• Percentage of women aged 20 to 24 who had a live birth
before age 15 to 18
• Percentage who agree with statement ‘A university
education is more important for a boy than for a girl’ (e.g.
World Values Survey)
• Percentage who agree with statement ‘If a wife burns
the food, a husband is justified in hitting her’ (e.g. DHS
and MICS)
• Degree of decision-making on family planning
• Degree of decision-making on earnings and household
expenditure
• Labour force participation rate or employment rate
• Percentage of women in leadership positions in political
and economic life
• Whether the constitution contains at least one approach
to gender equality
• Whether the country is a signatory of the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW)
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) results
• Whether the constitution protects the right to education
regardless of gender
• Whether the country has a policy on gender equality in
education
• Percentage of women in school leadership and
management positions
• Gender parity in teacher education graduates by sector
and level
• Gender parity in teacher employment by sector and level
• Gender parity in teacher pay by sector and level
• Percentage of single-sex toilets
• Percentage of poor girls (or boys) who receive incentives to
attend school (cash transfers, stipends, scholarships)
• Percentage of teachers who received training in gender
sensitivity
• Percentage of countries that include gender equality topics
in their curricula (gender discrimination, gender roles,
violence, sexual and reproductive health)
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CHAPTER 14 | TARGET 4.5 – EQUITY