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Girls & Women

Initial reflections on ‘Accountability in education: Meeting our commitments’

Submitted by erica on

The new Global Education Monitoring Report is ground-breaking in placing accountability at the centre of its attention. As the report notes, the concept of accountability was shockingly absent from the framing of the Sustainable Development Goals–making it relatively easy for heads of state to sign up to them, as they could be confident that there were few consequences if they failed to deliver.

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education on equity and inclusion

Submitted by erica on

In the present report, the Special Rapporteur reviews the role of equity and inclusion in strengthening the right to education, in particular in the context of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The Special Rapporteur concludes by calling for states to take significant, positive actions to tackle discrimination, inequity and exclusion in education to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals are met.

'I won’t be a doctor, and one day you’ll be sick': Girls' access to education in Afghanistan

Submitted by erica on

Sixteen years after the US-led military intervention in Afghanistan ousted the Taliban, an estimated two-thirds of Afghan girls do not attend school. The aim of getting all girls into school was never fully realised, and the proportion of students who are girls is even falling in some parts of the country. The vast majority of the millions of Afghan children not in school are girls, and only 37 percent of adolescent girls are literate, compared to 66 percent of adolescent boys.

Menstruation, the right to education and India’s positive obligations

Submitted by erica on

The link between menstruation and the goals of gender justice is a complicated one - whether it is the debate surrounding the controversial first-day-of-period leave introduced by some offices or challenges to the taxation regimes of menstrual hygiene products in two separate petitions before the 

A human rights-based approach to gender responsive public schools

Submitted by erica on

In recent decades some good progress has been made in improving gender parity in primary education around the world - but superficial gains hide some shocking truths. In low income families in Africa, for every 100 boys only 83 girls complete primary education, only 73 girls complete lower secondary and only 40 girls complete upper secondary.

UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report Gender Review

Submitted by viv on

Gender equality and inequality concern how people live their daily lives, their relationships, choices, decisions and the freedom they do or do not have to live a life they value. Gender equality is a matter of social justice and human rights. It drives development progress.  It is vital for achieving peaceful, inclusive, resilient and just societies.

Realisation of the equal enjoyment of the right to education by every girl

Submitted by viv on

This report was prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 32/20. It underlines the multiple and intersecting obstacles that limit effective and equal access of girls to education and highlights good practices to address those barriers. It also contains recommendations on appropriate measures to ensure the equal enjoyment of the right to education by every girl and, in that context, eliminate all gender disparities in education by 2030, in fulfilment of the commitment made in Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Include Us! A study of disability among Plan International's sponsored children

Submitted by Sara on

Based upon Plan International's dataset of 1.4 million sponsored children, the report compares sponsored children with a disability to those without, from 30 countries worldwide. The report, produced in collaboration with London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, reveals that children with disabilities in developing countries are being held back from an education. The findings will help Plan International - and other researchers and organisations - to improve responses to the needs of children with disabilities, particularly their health and education.