Achieving Gender Equality in Education: Examining Progress and Constraints

By Bentaouet Kattan, Raja; Khan, Myra Murad; Merchant, Courtney Melissa

OVERVIEW

Education is a human right for all children, yet many marginalized groups are disproportionally excluded from pursuing an education. Enrollment outcomes have increased for both girls and boys in recent decades, but learning remains a critical issue. Girls’ enrollment, attendance, and dropout rates are especially challenging in low-income countries and countries facing fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV). The sizable gender gap in female labor force participation after education also indicates that education and learning do not translate into labor market returns for women in the same way as they do for men.

Schools play an important role in the fight for gender equality. Schools empower all students, serving as incubators where students can learn about their own potential and rights in the world around them. The education girls receive at schools plays a huge role in shaping their future. United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 commits to ensuring every child in the world receives a free, quality education. With the push to get every single girl in school, the potential for impact in creating gender equality through education is huge.

The World Bank is the largest external financier of education worldwide. This note examines trends in girls’ education and spotlights interventions that support girls’ education. Key takeaways include the following:

• It is simply not enough to get girls into school. Efforts must ensure they stay in school, learn well, and are able to translate their schooling into future gains.

• Programs that focus on getting girls into school through scholarships, cash transfers, and stipends improve girls’ enrollment outcomes.

• Interventions that address additional challenges that girls face while in school, such as improving conditions for menstrual health and hygiene and reducing gender-based violence (GBV), make girls feel safe and included in schools.

• Teaching and learning-focused programs for girls, such as combating stereotypical gender norms in pedagogy, textbooks, and curriculum, help reduce gender-bias in schools and empower them to reach their full potential.

• It is important to strengthen the role of schools for adolescent girls’ empowerment and for shifting mindsets and norms by engaging girls and boys on issues pertaining to gender equality including on GBV, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), and women’s economic participation There are wide regional disparities in enrollment and participation in technical and vocational education and skills training programs for young women, and in labor market participation.

• Boys also face a myriad of challenges in their education, especially academic underachievement and dropout at the secondary education level which is related to a higher likelihood of entering the labor market early.

• Women transitioning out of school and into labor markets face barriers related to cultural norms, values, safety, childcare, and gender roles. These keep women from fully realizing labor market gains and societies from achieving meaningful gender equality