 PANEL THREE
"GIRLS' AND WOMEN'S EDUCATION,
 WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT AND
 POPULATION ISSUES" (UNFPA)

"Girls' and Women's Education,

Women's Empowerment and Population Issues"

(UNFPA)

* Gender Disparities: A Brake on National Development

* The Impact of Educating Girls and Women

* Overcoming Obstacles to Educating Girls and Women

* Strategies for Reaching Girls

* Linking Learning to Poverty Alleviation

* Education and Empowerment for Women

* Key Elements of a Strategy for Women's Empowerment

* Strategies to Promote Female Education

* Conclusion: A Priority With No Single Solution

Chairperson: H.E. Dr Iyorchia Ayu, Minister of Education and Youth Development (NIGERIA)

The Panelists:

H.E. Mr Murilio de Avellar Hingel, Brazilian Minister of Education and Sport. A specialist in education planning, Mr Hingel has developed extensive experience at several levels of teaching in Brazil.

Shahnaz Wazir Ali is special assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan for the Social Sector. In her present capacity, she is responsible for education, health and population welfare. She has made important contributions to the planning and management of basic education in Pakistan. She was federal minister for education from 1988 to 1990.

Shabana Azmi is a noted Indian actress who is recognized internationally for her talent ("City of Joy, " "Madame Sousatzka", "In Custody") as well as for her keen interest in social issues. A strong advocate of gender equality, she travels extensively to champion human rights.

Dr. Nafis Sadik is Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund and concurrently Secretary General for the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development, scheduled later this year. As a young medical practioner, Dr. Sadik became involved in family planning and women's issues in Pakistan and was appointed Director General of the Family Planning Programme in 1970. She came to UNFPA in 1971. In 1987, she was appointed to her present position, becoming the first woman in the United Nations to head a major U.N. operational activity.

Recognizing that gender inequality is

the single greatest constraint to

achieving universal primary education

and the wider goals of Education for

All, the Delhi Declaration places the

education and empowerment of girls

and women at the top of the agenda for

the century-end.

The urgent priority attached to educating girls and women is hardly surprising. Literacy and education are basic human rights that are still too frequently denied to girls. In six of the nine countries participating in the summit, enrolment of girls lags ten to thirty percentage points behind that of boys. Since the United Nations Decade for Women, countries have multiplied initiatives to enhance women's participation in social, economic and political spheres. Governments established ministries for women, constitutions were amended to recognize the principle of gender equality and NGO and state interventions became more sensitive to the specific needs of women. Recently, the government of Pakistan decided to reserve a five per cent quota in all government services for women. Efforts are being made to appoint women in the Supreme Court. In Bangladesh, 10 per cent of parliamentary seats are reserved for women as well as 10 to 15 per cent of government jobs. Still, as the 1993 Human Development Report recalls, women make up just over 10 per cent of the world's parliamentary representatives. In the countries for which data is available, the female human development index is only 60 per cent that of males. "Indeed, for decades," the report states, "life has changed very little for 500 million rural women in the developing world."

Gender Disparities: A Brake on National Development

In 1990, the World Declaration on Education for All stated that "the most urgent priority is to ensure access to, and improve the quality of, education for girls and women, and to remove every obstacle that hampers their active participation. All gender stereotyping in education should be eliminated."

This commitment to the education of girls and women cannot be sufficiently reiterated. Girls account for 81 million of the 130 million "out-of-school" children. Gender disparities are particularly accentuated in rural areas. There has been spectacular progress in increasing the enrolment of girls - in China, female enrolment rose from 11 per cent to 96 per cent in the past two decades - but prou- nounced gender gaps still exist in all regions, with the exception of Latin America. Considering the nine high population countries collectively, female enrolment as a percentage, of total enrolment increased from 42 per cent in 1980 to 44, per cent in 1990. The pattern of gender disparity also prevails with respect to illiteracy. Of the 948 million illiterate adults worldwide, over 60 per cent are women. At present, one out of three adult women cannot read or write, compared with one out of five adult males. In South Asia, female literacy rates are only around 50 per cent those of males.

The benefits of educating women are no longer debated, but they need to be reemphasized given the gap between rhetoric and achievements." Simply stated, Education is Empowerment and women must be empowered to take control of their own lives," said Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the UNFPA. "Education opens the door to

opportunity and choice for women. It is the, key to overcoming oppressive customs and traditions that have relegated girls and women to the status of "second class citizens" in their families and in their societies."

The image of opening doors - to employment, social services and participation in political life - captures the importance of educating girls and women. Through an education attuned to their needs and

"Education opens the door to opportunity and choice for women. It is the key to overcoming oppressive customs and traditions that have relegated girls and women to the status of 'second-class citizens' in their families and in their societies. "

Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director, UNFPA

environment, women gradually become more visible and recognized in mainstream activity, both in the home and in society at large. In the personal sphere, education enhances a woman's self-worth. confidence and sense of capacity. In the public sphere, it increases her income- earning potential and contributes to overall national development. Beyond being a basic human right, the education of women is perhaps the most critical factor in reducing fertility levels and infant mortality and in promoting the overall well-being of the family. "We, firmly believe that investing in women is a sine qua non for the achievement of sustainable development and that educating women delivers the highest return of any development input," said Dr. Sadik.

The Impact of Educating Girls and Women

The above stated view is backed up by facts. Findings from a World Bank study of 20 developing countries indicate that countries which allocated substantial resources to female primary education experienced higher economic productivity, lower fertility rates, lower infant and maternal mortality and improved levels of life, expectancy for both men and women, compared to countries with lower levels of women's educational attainment. "You educate a man and an individual gets educated; you educate a woman and generations get educated," said Mr. K. Karunakaran, the chief minister of Kerala, a state that has been in the forefront of women's education. Investing in the education of women and girls normally yields the highest return. More specifically, educating women has a significant impact on multiple facets of society:

*Impact on Economic Productivity:

Research indicates that each additional year a young girl stays in school translates into a 10 to 20 per cent increase in wages. Studies in India confirm that women who had completed high school earned one and half times more than those without any education, and women with technical training earned three times more than illiterate women. To be better valued, women's productive contribution must also be recognized at the highest level, in for example national accounts.

* Impact on Population Growth:

An abundance of empirical evidence exists showing the relationship between women's education and a slowdown in population growth, recognized as the major brake on progress towards EFA. In several countries, population growth continues to outpace increases in school capacity. Educating girls is three times more likely to lower family size than educating boys, Girls with eight years of education marry later, have a stronger preference for a smaller family and higher rates of contraceptive use. In Brazil, illiterate women have 6.5 children on average whereas women with a secondary education have 2.5 children. The recent Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey found that while only eight per cent of married women of reproductive age (MWRA) with no education are currently using contraception, the figure rises to 47 per cent of MWRA with higher education.

* Impact on child mortality and family well-being

The children of educated mothers have higher survival rates through infancy and childhood. Relatively modest levels of education result in very significant declines in child mortality. Evidence indicates that each additional year of schooling of mothers translates into a decline in child mortality in the range of 5 to 10 per cent. For example, literate mothers with less than six years of education have an average infant mortality rate of slightly over 100 whereas the children of illiterate mothers experience up to 170 fatalities per 1,000 live births. Because education is highly correlated with an openness to new ideas and innovation, educated mothers are more likely to follow sound hygienic and nutritional practices, and seek medical help when their children are ill.

*Impact on access to education:

Educated mothers understand the value of educating their children, both daughters and sons. They are likely to take a greater interest in their children's school work, and can help them in acquiring basic literacy and numeracy skills. In India, the Total Literacy Campaigns (TLC) have led to a strong demand for universalising primary education through an awakening and recognition of the value of education. In several TLC districts, elementary school admission figures registered sharp increases.

Overcoming Obstacles to Educating Girls and Women

Recognizing that women have been neglected is one of the first steps in changing the winds of policy in their favour: for the first time in 1983, the government of Pakistan included women in the national development plan, asserting that "no society can ever develop half- liberated and half-shackled." The next plan goes on to state that "the first imperative for an effective overall national development policy for women is to acknowledge that women have been neglected, and to affirm that the results of this neglect in terms of low productivity, illiteracy and poor health are an unacceptable cost, both morally and economically."

Overcoming, obstacles to the enrolment of girls calls for a careful understanding of their causes and the conditions under which they arise. A complex web of cultural, historic, psychological and economic circumstances have contributed to maintaining women at a disadvantage. Drawing form the work of Srilatha Batiwala, Shabana Azmi, an Indian actress, said that "inequality is inculcated in both men and women from birth, before they

can think for themselves." Religion, mythology, social and cultural taboos, behavioural training, rewards and punishments are all used to socialize girls to accept and participate in their own oppression.

"What we are overlooking is the role and responsibility of men and their attitudes which shape the views of women in most of our societies."

Dr Nafis Sadik, Executive Director, UNFPA

As the UNFPA paper details, in many societies, girls are only valued for their reproductive function: "From her birth onwards, the girl child is shortchanged in the distribution of the assets of the household- e.g., food, health care, etc. Ironically, even though girls and women are "valued" for their reproductive role, they are not even given the requisite health care and nutrition to make this role a safe one, " said Dr. Sadik. Over 500,000 women die every year as a result of pregnancy and childbirth. she said. Parents tend to place a higher priority on the education of their sons in view of their future potential as a source of economic security and status. In many societies, early marriage leads to premature withdrawal form school. Furthermore, when parents are inclined to send their daughters to schools, the schools' location is often unfavourble: it may be too far from home, causing parents to worry about girls' safety. The long journey may be perceived as cutting into the time girls need for performing household chores. Facilities may also be inadequate for girls' needs and the lack of female teachers is deemed unacceptable. Frequently, the curriculum is narrowly focused on routine literacy and numeracy skills, bearing little relevance to the needs and lifestyles of girl students. This denial permeates the economic system: women are generally employed in low-paid, low-productivity work and are subject to many forms of discrimination because of the family responsibilities they have to shoulder. Despite their significant contribution to national economies, women, especially rural women working in agriculture, are often invisible in national accounts and statistics. According to a 1990 UN survey, if unpaid house and family care work were counted as productive output in national income accounts, global output would increase by 20 to 30 per cent.

Beyond the barriers of traditions, customs and mentalities, gender inequalities are also intricately linked to poverty. In Brazil, the situation of girls and women from an educational viewpoint is one of total equality of opportunity. In fact, girls' enrolment is higher than that of boys, and they tend to achieve superior academic performance. The brunt of deprivation, however, in a country where 44 million people live below the poverty line, falls on the weaker strata of society, and especially on female-headed households. Thus, in discussing the education of girls, it is crucial to look beyond enrolment figures at the opportunities an economy offers for the advancement of women. Attention to vocational training and equality of opportunity on the labour market is fundamental to any comprehensive discussion of gender equality.

Strategies for Reaching Girls

Education plays a pivotal role in any intervention to increase women's participation in development. Over the last decade, a number of countries have taken steps to reach out to women, understand their needs, and integrate them into the development process. The importance of women's issues has been recognized and integrated into the policy-making process. In Pakistan, where the total literacy rate is estimated at 35 per cent, the government established a women's division in 1979 which was upgraded to a fullfledged ministry in 1989. In Nigeria, the government has established a women's education unit in the ministry of education and youth development. A national plan of action for promoting the education of women and girls has been drawn up. In Bangladesh, in order to encourage girls to continue their studies, they are offered eight years of free education as compared to five years for boys. In India, the National Policy on Education and its accompanying Plan of Action devotes particular attention to the education of girls and the empowerment of women.

But what kind of education is required not only to increase female enrolment but to keep girls in schools? Not only is there a need for more flexible arrangements, incentives and more relevant curricula, but an accompanying profound change in the attitudes of society toward gender stereotypes, traditions and customs that have denied women access to education. The quality of education received is of paramount importance. "We have to overcome age-old barriers of silence, isolation and discrimination by making serious efforts, at all levels, to create conducive conditions for the participation of women and girls in education on an equal footing with men," said Ms. Kumari Selja, the Indian Deputy Minister for Education and Culture. A more positive political, social and cultural environment must be fostered to promote changes in these attitudes towards women.

Although situations differ from country to country, within countries, and between regions, the common denominator is the need for specific strategies to reach girls. The UNFPA presentation detailed several essential guidelines for putting literacy and education within the reach of all girls and women:

* Bring schools closer to the community and increase community and parent involvement.

Proximity to the home encourages parents to send girls to school: in Egypt for example, where female illiteracy is almost twice that of' males, small schools are being sited in rural hamlets where the attendance of girls is low. As schools are brought closer to the home, female enrolment is increasing. Bangladesh is developing satellite schools, small institutions of only two classes located in rural hamlets to promote the enrolment of girls. Parental involvement enhances the schools' accountability for providing quality education.

PANEL THREE "GIRLS' AND WOMEN'S EDUCATION, WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT AND POPULATION ISSUES" (UNFPA)

"Girls' and Women's Education, Women's Empowerment and Population Issues" (UNFPA)