Global education monitoring report 2019: gender report: Building bridges for gender equality

The 2019 Gender Report argues that apparent progress towards gender parity in education is not a sufficiently good indicator of the real progress made towards gender equality in education. Many people still believe it is preferable for a man to receive a university education rather than a woman. Teachers rarely receive training in how to be responsive to gender issues in the classroom. Some countries still ban pregnant girls from school. Teaching is frequently a female profession with men in charge. A broader perspective is therefore needed. For this reason, this Report is framed around a monitoring framework for gender equality in education first introduced in the 2016 Global Education Monitoring Report. In addition to focusing on gender parity in education participation, attainment and learning achievement, the framework examines different dimensions of the quest for gender equality. It looks inside and outside of education, with the understanding that change in education cannot happen if harmful gender norms are still common, or if there is insufficient political will for change. Informed by the 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report, this publication is enriched by analysis of the intersections between gender, education, migration and displacement. It examines the way that relations in both origin and host communities influence women’s and men’s experiences as migrants and refugees – and the role of education. Finally, this Gender Report reviews how much aid to education focuses on gender equality and presents different donor-funded programmes targeting girls’ education. It calls on donors to reassess their gender-related programming to ensure that their projects are sustainable and integrated into national policies. Feeding into debates spurred by the 2019 G7 French Presidency, the Report also analyses the extent to which education sector plans in some of the countries with the largest gender disparity in education are sufficiently responsive to the need for gender equality.