UNESCO launches World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) March 5, 2012 launched the World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education, which includes over 120 maps, charts and tables featuring a wide range of sex-disaggregated indicators.
The Atlas, produced by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics enables readers to visualize the educational pathways of girls and boys in terms of access, participation and progression from pre-primary to tertiary education.
It also illustrates the extent to which gender disparities in education have changed since 1970 and are shaped by factors such as national wealth, geographic location, investment in education and fields of study.
“This Atlas is a call for action. The growth in girls’ enrolment in primary education is a clear demonstration of strong political will to achieve the Education for All goals. But there are still great strides to be made in order to reach the large numbers of vulnerable girls and women who continue to be denied their right to education,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova in a statement.
According to Hendrik van der Pol, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the data reflect the commitment of governments and the international community to close the gender gap in education. But there is a tremendous difference between gender parity and gender equality.
By Ekow Quandzie