Addressing Gender Disparities in Education
If you educate a woman, you educate a family, if you educate a girl, you educate the future. Sadly, we still have 132 million girls out of school today.
Twice as many girls as boys will never start school, according to UNESCO. Today only 49 per cent of countries have achieved gender parity in primary education. Threats to girls’ education range from poverty, child marriage, gender biases, poor infrastructure, and conflict, to a lack of gender-responsive pedagogies, policies, data, budgets and more.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the entire education sector. The increased drop-out rates disproportionately affect girls, which further entrench gender gaps in education and lead to increased risk of sexual exploitation, forced marriage, early pregnancy. The world also faces challenges in updating our educational system and infrastructure to provide e-learning for tomorrow.
Investing in girls’ education is investing in economic growth, a healthy workforce, lasting peace and a sustainable future for our planet. One additional year of schooling increases a woman’s return from education by 12 percent compared with 10 percent for men. Gender-equitable education could add up to $12 trillion USD to global growth. It can also cut the risk of violent extremism in half. To have a healthy, prosperous and sustainable society, we must guarantee girls’ education.
