Focus on girls isn’t fair and isn’t enough, say researchers

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Focus on ****** isn’t fair and isn’t enough, say researchers

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Credit: Magda Ehlers from Pexels

For the past two decades,

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as a cornerstone of promoting gender equality in sub-Saharan *******. Between 2016 and 2018, the World Bank Group invested

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in education projects benefiting adolescent ******.

The logic is straightforward. ****** face significant

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, among them ********, insufficient academic support, adolescent pregnancy, child marriage, and school-related gender-based *********. Reducing these barriers can substantially improve their educational outcomes.

But is this approach—investing in ******’ education—fair to boys, and enough to make a meaningful impact on ******’ lives in the long term? Having studied the relationship between interventions and the way people’s lives develop in adverse contexts, we argue that the answer is no on both counts.

We explain this view in a recent

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. In it we compare the different effects of directing development assistance: improving ******’ school enrollment, prioritizing schooling for both ****** and boys, and addressing barriers to gender equality throughout life.

We used publicly available data for 136 low- and middle-income countries, including those in sub-Saharan *******. We calculated the female-to-male ratio for important education indicators in each country to show where ****** are ahead, on par or behind boys.

Our findings suggest that the current focus on ******’ schooling may both unintentionally disadvantage boys and be a relatively inefficient means of advancing gender equality.

******’ and boys’ education in sub-Saharan *******

We focused on two indicators to assess the current state of ******’ and boys’ education in the region:

Harmonized learning outcomes measure learning and progress based on the results from seven different types of tests combined and made comparable among children attending school. They reflect the environmental inputs into learning and achievement, such as school quality. Completing secondary school, meanwhile, has been

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to increase a person’s potential for future development, opportunities for employment and higher education.

In most countries in sub-Saharan *******, ****** are behind boys in secondary school completion. The average completion rate for boys is 30%. For ****** it is just 24%. In southern ******* specifically, ****** have higher completion rates than boys.

In sub-Saharan *******, the average harmonized learning outcomes score for boys is 301; it is 303 for ******. Our results show that for most countries in the region, ****** are achieving roughly equal scores to their male peers.

This suggests that gender gaps in education are not as pronounced as is often portrayed.

Firstly, although school completion rates are higher for boys, this gap is small, and overall completion rates remain low for both genders.

Secondly,

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, it is not due to better academic performance. Once enrolled, ****** in the region tend to keep up with boys in school completion and academic performance.

Rather than asking who is ahead, it’s more important to note that neither boys nor ****** are doing well.

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that educational outcomes in sub-Saharan *******—including school performance and completion—are alarmingly poor for both ****** and boys.

So, if all children in the region are clearly in need of support, why target education interventions at ****** alone?

Large disparities in later life

The key to gender equality ***** in ensuring ****** and boys, and men and women, have the same opportunities to reach their potential from early life, through late childhood and adolescence, into adulthood.

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that human development does not hinge on any single factor such as schooling. Rather, it depends on capabilities built throughout life.

In early childhood,

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, among other things, is crucial for developing a child’s basic physical and cognitive capabilities. These early investments protect the potential for human development.

During

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, factors like quality schooling and social support allow young people to realize that potential.

Finally, in adulthood,

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determine how fully a person can use their realized potential.

Our findings suggest that on average, in low- and middle-income countries, the development potential of ****** and young women is protected and realized better than it is for boys and young men. But later in life, women don’t have as many opportunities as men to use that potential.

This implies that initiatives focused on ******’ schooling are likely not the most effective means of promoting ******’ development or reducing gender gaps.

Large disparities emerge later in ******’ lives. For example, our findings show that women earn less than men in almost every country in sub-Saharan *******. These results reflect how

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, particularly the unequal burden of housework and childcare, tend to push women into lower-paid informal or part-time work. Even when similarly qualified and in comparable positions,

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.

These findings, when considered in the context of the current state of education in the region, challenge the idea that focusing solely on ******’ education is enough to promote their lifelong development or meaningfully reduce gender inequalities.

The argument that boys should not receive the same support as ****** is weak.

How to promote greater gender equality in sub-Saharan *******

Targeted interventions are likely to have the greatest impact where ****** and women face the greatest barriers: in using their potential. That means, for example:

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, including childcare and reproductive health services, can ease women’s caregiving burden and give them the time and agency to fully participate in politics, the economy and society.

There are also opportunities beyond government, where support for trade unions, for instance, has been shown to help

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.

Addressing gender inequality requires a life-course approach. It should involve quality education for both genders, and tackling the policies, practices and social norms that marginalize women and ******, especially in the later stages of their lives.

Provided by
The Conversation

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under a Creative Commons license. Read the

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Education and gender equality: Focus on ****** isn’t fair and isn’t enough, say researchers (2024, October 21)
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#Focus #****** #isnt #fair #isnt #researchers

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