UNGEI at 10: A journey to gender equality in education

The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) turns 10 years old in 2010. UNGEI at 10: A journey to gender equality in education sets out to assess the initiative’s effectiveness, identify obstacles and propose steps to complete the mission of ensuring quality education for all girls and boys. While not a formal evaluation, the report documents UNGEI activities and its contributions to advancing Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to education and gender and the Education for All (EFA) goals through an analysis of historical documents and self-reports from UNGEI global, regional and national focal points. In addition, the report takes note of the progress made in girls’ education in the last decade, while outlining the remaining challenges in attaining gender equality in education.

UNGEI: An additional push for girls’ education Numerous studies have shown that educating girls can make more dramatic, positive changes for both the individual and society than any other single intervention. Education expands social and economic opportunities and promotes participation for both boys and girls. Girls’ education, furthermore, has cascading effects on the family, community and nation. UNGEI, created to advance gender parity and equality in education, is headed by a Secretariat hosted at UNICEF headquarters and guided by a Global Advisory Committee drawn from multilateral, bilateral and civil society organizations. It operates though local networks of organizations at the country and regional levels.

Girls’ education: Where we are now The state of girls’ education has changed considerably since the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, and the United Nations Millennium Summit in New York in 2000. In 2007, fewer than 72 million children were out of primary school, as compared to more than 100 million in 1999. Since the inception of UNGEI, there have been three major trends: (i) Gender parity in access and attendance has improved substantially, though progress is uneven for all levels of schooling and for all regions and countries; (ii) major gaps remain in areas that signify gender equality, such as subject choices, gender bias and stereotypes in textbooks, teaching-learning processes and teachers’ attitudes towards girls; and (iii) girls’ and women’s education is more vulnerable to adverse circumstances, such as poverty, conflict, natural disasters and economic downturns.

Despite incremental steps towards gender parity and equality in education, five challenges remain: (i) the risk of losing gains in girls’ enrolment, attendance and retention during the worldwide recession; (ii) compromised gender equality in school processes, textbooks, subject choices, teachers’ attitudes, and susceptibility to violence; (iii) treatment of gender issues as add-ons rather than mainstreaming them into education policy, budgets and administration; (iv) lack of gender related education responses in emergencies; and (v) failure to recognize gender equality as leading to equal opportunities for both boys and girls.

The report argues that to accelerate the pace towards gender equality in education, all stakeholders – including the international community, national governments and policymakers, and civil society – must work towards (i) maintaining and enhancing investments in interventions that have led to increased enrolment and retention of girls, (ii) focusing attention on policy, finance and programming that pertain to gender equality, (iii) mainstreaming gender in education at all levels, (iv) ensuring gender-responsive education in emergencies, (v) ensuring that interventions are responsive to the needs of boys, as well as girls, and (vi) integrating gender in social protection and poverty alleviation.

The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) is 10 years old. Launched in Dakar, Senegal, in 2000 by then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, UNGEI promotes girls’ education and works for gender equality in education through a network of partners at the global, regional, national and sub-national levels.

UNGEI AT 10: A Journey to Gender Equality in Education is available online.

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