WUNRN
From Address of UNESCO
Director-General to Forum on Gender Equality in
Education. Link to Full Address - 6
Pages:
"Gender equality is a human right that lays the
foundations for dignity and fulfilment. It is also a development multiplier.
Education, especially, accelerates political,economic and social transformation."
UN FORUM ON ENDURING
DISPARITIES IN GIRLS' EDUCATION
3 October 2011
With
evidence showing that disparities in education widen as girls grow, the United
Nations today kicked off a two-day meeting in
The forum on gender equality in
education brings together experts, government officials and representatives of
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to examine the root causes of inequality
between girls’ and boys’ school performances.
While gender equality in education
remains a crucial issue for many countries, women still account for two thirds
of the world’s illiterate population and the majority of out-of-school children
are girls, according to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO),
which organized the forum.
“Equality is not a numbers game,”
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in her address
to the meeting.
“Equality implies the same chances of
learning, of benefiting from equitable treatment within the school, and the
same opportunities in terms of employment, wages and civic participation,” she
added.
Ms. Bokova noted that UNESCO’s 2011 Education
for All Global Monitoring Report paints a “worrying” picture of enduring
disparities and challenges to equality.
The Education for All goals were
agreed to by more than 160 countries at the World Education Forum in 2000 in
Dakar, Senegal, with the aim of achieving 100 per cent child enrolment in
primary schools by 2015. Improving access to education is also one of the eight
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
world leaders have pledged to achieve by 2015.
“Trends show that enrolment ratios
have increased worldwide in primary and lower secondary levels – but that
gender differences remain,” said Ms. Bokova.
Arab and sub-Saharan
Also, research from 15 countries in
East and Southern Africa between 2000 and 2007 show that learning achievements
in mathematics and reading, and gender equality in leadership and teaching
staff progressed very slowly or not at all.
“Clear evidence is mounting from all
sides,” Ms. Bokova stated. “Disparities in education grow as girls grow. These
disparities start early across the world, and they run deep.
“All of this shows that girls are
getting lost along the way, falling out of education. It shows they are not
getting everywhere an education of quality and equality.
Participants at the forum will also
consider the progress achieved in reducing the gender gap, and the obstacles
that stand in the way of women’s ability to achieve senior leadership positions
in the public sector and more specifically in education.
The outcome of the meeting will be
presented at UNESCO Headquarters in