By Trish Williams, Media & Gender Consultant, UK
Education is necessary for social change, economic growth and the improved health and quality of life for everyone.
Education is an area where girls and women have traditionally been disadvantaged. Often the decision not to send a daughter to school is
based on deeply embedded beliefs and customs.
- parents may decide to educate their sons because they feel that he will get a job and provide for them in their old age
- girls are often kept at home to help with household tasks
- parents may invest less in girls' education because economic returns will go to the families of future husbands after marriage
- parents have different perceptions of the value of education for sons and daughters
- distance that children have to travel to get to school affects girls more than boys, especially in countries where families do not want girls exposed to being in the same school as boys or in danger of meeting men on their way to school
- some families are not willing to educate girls if teachers are male
- once girls reach puberty, pregnancy may prevent them from staying in school
Denying education to women has slowed social and economic development:
- two thirds of the world's 880 million illiterate adults are women
- two thirds of the 300 million children without access to education are girls
- investment in women's education is an efficient economic choice. One reason is that women who use their skills to increase their income, tend to invest more in child health and education for their children
- education, in particular that of women, has an enormous impact on infant and child mortality
CEDAW is very clear about how gender equality in education should be promoted. It says that societies should:
- provide girls access to the same curricula, examinations, and quality of teaching as boys
- eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of men and women by revising textbooks and school programmes and adapting teaching methods to the needs of girls
- offer the same opportunities for career and vocational guidance and for scholarships and grants
- promote the active participation of girls in sports and physical education
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