Leading the School Assembly, Zambezia Province, Mozambique. Photo: Sheila Aikman/Oxfam |
Programme Insights: Education and Gender series
These papers on education and gender contribute to improving policy development and practice by presenting new learning and examples of good practice in a clear and straightforward manner, with recommendations for action. The series of nine papers has been developed by the Beyond Access: Gender, Education and Development Project, a project by Oxfam GB, the Institute of Education, University of London, and DFID.
They aim to contribute to the development of gender equality in education programmes, and contribute especially to Oxfam's programmes, and our advocacy for the achievement of the education Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) at international, national, and local levels.
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1.
Beyond Access for Girls and Boys: how to achieve good-quality, gender-equitable
education (483K PDF file) | Spanish
(PDF, 507K) | Portuguese
(PDF, 493K) | French
(PDF, 560K)
This introductory paper frames the issues and challenges to be
faced in achieving gender equality and quality Education For All (EFA). The
issues — which include not only ensuring access to education for girls and
women, but the completion of a good quality education for both boys and girls so
that they can use their education to have a positive effect on their futures —
are taken up in more detail in subsequent papers.
2.
Gender Equality in Schools (499K pdf file) | Spanish
(PDF, 491K) | Portuguese
(PDF, 491K) | French
(PDF, 491K)
This paper discusses the content and delivery of education and
how it can reflect and reproduce gender inequalities. Girls’ and boys’ learning
and interaction with each other, and the teacher, are influenced by ways of
teaching, the content of the curriculum, and relations within the classroom. The
paper considers these aspects of education provision – curriculum, teaching and
learning, and the dynamics of the classroom and school. It recommends changes
needed to ensure that education provision will promote gender equality.
3.Gender
Equality and Adult Basic Education (272K pdf file) | Spanish
(PDF, 262K) | Portuguese
(PDF, 263K) | French
(PDF, 266K)
This paper highlights the fact that the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) do not directly address the issue of adult basic education and
literacy, in spite of these being essential for achieving the Millennium
targets. It explores the potential of adult basic education with gender equality
to be transformatory for individuals, and for groups working to address key
issues, such as gender-based violence, and HIV/AIDS. The role of governments and
other key agencies in relation to gender equality and adult basic education is
also explored. The paper concludes with a discussion of how to develop
longer-term approaches to gender equality, adult basic education, and literacy.
4.
Beyond the Mainstream: education for nomadic and pastoralist girls and boys
(566K pdf file) | Spanish
(PDF, 555K) | Portuguese
(PDF, 541K) | French
(PDF, 533K)
This paper illustrates the challenges involved in providing
good-quality gender-equitable education for children who are beyond the reach of
mainstream, formal education. It focuses on children of nomadic and pastoralist
households, identifying specific issues in providing schooling for them, and
drawing on lessons from approaches and initiatives by various agencies
(government and non-government). The paper explores specific forms of
discrimination that nomadic and pastoralist girls experience in relation to
education, and highlights the need for deeper gender analysis in order to inform
policy making.
5.
Making it Happen: political will for gender equality in education (352K pdf
file) | Portuguese
(PDF, 341K) | Spanish
(PDF, 345K) | French
(PDF, 338K)
Why do some countries succeed in promoting gender parity and
equality in education while others do not? The answer often given is ‘political
will’. All too often, however, no further explanation is offered. There has been
little effort to understand why governments are unwilling or unable to change
their policies and priorities to achieve equal access to education for girls and
boys, as expressed in the third Millennium Development Goal. This paper
considers the concept of political will and explores the role that it plays in
improving gender parity and equality in education.
6.
Developing Capacity to Achieve Gender Equality in Education (260K pdf file)
| Portuguese
(PDF, 251K) | Spanish
(PDF, 252K) | French
(PDF, 252K)
Failure to achieve gender equality in education is often blamed
on ‘weak capacity’. This paper illustrates the ways in which individual,
organisational, and institutional capacity all play important roles in producing
positive results for girls. It is essential to recognise that these different
forms of capacity are related, in order to prevent the disappearance of policies
and strategies produced with the aim of achieving gender equality in
education.
7.Gender-Responsive
Budgeting in Education (371K pdf file) | Portuguese
(PDF, 358K) | Spanish
(PDF, 347K) | French
(PDF, 363K)
In the mid-1980s, the Australian government embarked on the first
initiative to analyse government budgets from a gender perspective. In 1995,
South Africa and the Philippines became the second and third countries to
attempt gender-responsive budget exercises. By 2003, there had been similar
initiatives in more than sixty countries, spanning every continent.This paper
uses the gender-responsive budgeting approach to explain how governments and
donors can promote gender equality in education through their decisions on
financing.
8.
Girls’ Education in Africa (339K pdf file) | Portuguese
(PDF, 335K) | Spanish
(PDF, 343K) | French
(PDF, 336K)
Sub-Saharan Africa has some huge problems to resolve if it is to
achieve gender equality in education, and fulfil the Millennium Development
Goals related to education and gender. Conversely, the region also has some of
the most innovative and enterprising examples of initiatives that promote gender
equality in education. This paper focuses on sub-Saharan Africa and considers
some of the most significant obstacles that African girls face in achieving the
education that is their right. The paper then reviews the most significant
initiatives – those that are ‘gender-neutral’ and those that have a specific
focus on gender equality – that have enabled African countries to overcome these
obstacles.
9:
Girls' Education in South Asia | Spanish
(PDF, 426K) | French
(PDF, 423K)
Because of deep-rooted gender inequalities, and because of the
large population of South Asia, the region has the highest number of
out-of-school girls in the world. This paper outlines some of the issues
confronting practitioners, policy makers, and researchers in girls’ education in
South Asia, and explores what they can do to move towards high-quality and
gender-equitable education for all.
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