The Gender Education Gap is Narrowing. Here’s How You Can Help Close It

More girls are enrolling in education than ever before, and the gap between educated women in men is narrowing. Based on a report given by UNESCO, 180 million more girls have enrolled in primary and secondary education since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a commitment signed in 1995 by 189 countries in which they pledged to advance the rights of girls and women. The report shows that the global enrollment rate for girls in school increased from 73% to 89%, and the biggest improvements are seen in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, especially in India. The reasons behind this inequality are historical, social and economic, as barriers like poverty and rigid gender roles place large burdens on accessing schooling. 

Young men and women studying in the classroom in Klaten, Indonesia. Husniati Salma. Unsplash. 

This push for women’s education did not stop at the primary level, with three times more women enrolling in universities than 25 years ago, and the most significant progress is seen in North Africa and Western Asia. Morocco has particularly excelled, reaching enrollment parity in 2017 after more than 20 years of the rate of enrollment being just 30 women for every 100 men. The report found that although women are present in the classroom more frequently, there is still a culture of dismissal revolving around women’s education, so the efforts toward educating women are now focusing on representation and validation. 

Ways You Can Get Involved:

In relation to the report, a personal way to involve yourself is to participate in the  #Iamthe1stGirl campaign, started by the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) sector of UNESCO. This campaign asks women and girls who were the first of their family to graduate from high school and/or university to share their own stories of education and success. By sharing your own story, you can inspire women and girls to continue fighting for their right to be educated. The stories have been shared on Instagram and Twitter by the GEM account, and while the campaign did not go viral, the social media interactions show girls being inspired to continue their education in real time. 

There are several ways to get involved financially, and most involve the direct sponsoring of a woman in the process of getting her education. World Vision has a simple and effective sponsoring process, and your money goes toward not only providing school supplies, but also ensuring that proper sanitation and transportation is offered to women at school. 

Malala Yousafzai speaking on the creation of a shared future through education and empowerment. World Economic Forum. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. 

A fund with a story you may be familiar with is the Malala Fund, started by Pakistani girls’ education activist Malala Yousafzai in 2013 “to champion every girl’s right to 12 years of free, safe, quality education.” The money in the fund goes toward their board along with the leadership council and staff, championing “the creation of a more equal world by making sure all girls can go to school.”

On a smaller scale, you can ensure the girls and women in your community do not face barriers to their education by creating or participating in school supply and sanitary product drives and by sharing your own story about education. 

Donations collected during a 2015 school supply drive in Tallahassee, Florida. flguardian2. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

There are several ways to get involved in closing the gap. To donate towards causes that sponsor women’s education through providing instructors and supplies, you can visit World Vision or  Malala.org. 

In order to make sure that menstruation does not interfere with learning, you can donate money and time to several organizations that supply period products like, DoSomething.org. Two other organizations that also supply products are, DayForGirls.org and BintiPeriod.org. Days for girls is a women’s equality organization so it provides other avenues of involvement as well. 

To donate school supplies you can visit, Kinf.org to help students in the United States. Another school supply organization, Classroom Central, finds local schools in need of donations. For international involvement, you can directly donate to UNICEF USA. 

For those who want to learn more information and sign petitions, Plan International provides both on their website, Plan International.  Another petition to sign can be found on One.org where you can pledge to support the closing of the gender education gap. Lastly, you can even start your own fundraiser for school supplies and education funding at Room to Read.

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Renee Richardson

Renee is currently an English student at The University of Georgia. She lives in Ellijay, Georgia, a small mountain town in the middle of Appalachia. A passionate writer, she is inspired often by her hikes along the Appalachian trail and her efforts to fight for equality across all spectrums. She hopes to further her passion as a writer into a flourishing career that positively impacts others.

Sri Lanka Strives Toward Gender Equality Through Economic Empowerment

Sri Lanka’s efforts to combat the gender gap allow women to support themselves and their communities. 

Women selling produce at a market in Sri Lanka. imke.sta. CC2.0

Nicknamed the “pearl of the Indian Ocean” and famous for its spices, unique culture and lush ecosystems, Sri Lanka is also known for its advances in gender equality. The island nation became in 1960 the first country in the world to elect a female prime minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Sri Lanka has also long provided free and compulsory education for men and women up to the university level.

Even so, high levels of gender-based violence are present throughout the country and the unemployment rate of women is twice that of men. Most women occupy low-paying positions in agriculture and the garment industry with little chance of economic mobility. Although well-respected in the Asia-Pacific region, Sri Lanka’s educational system often enforces traditional ideological and cultural beliefs, which can perpetuate negative stereotypes about women.  A university-level education does not guarantee women positions of power, with large disparities between men and women in science, technology and political positions throughout the country. Additionally, a 26-year-long civil war (1983-2009) isolated Sri Lanka from the modern world, allowing traditional gender roles to thrive in war-affected areas.

Developing economic opportunities for women has the potential to overcome barriers to gender equality. Here are two organizations working to do just that:

Women receiving medical training provided by the Women’s Development Centre. Rajapaksa. CC2.0

The Women’s Development Center

This Sri Lanka-based nongovernmental organization has made incredible strides in supporting at-risk women, children and people with disabilities since its founding in 1986. With the goal of creating opportunities for marginalized groups, the group is on its way to “creating a just and secure society for women and children.” Although the organization has a multifaceted approach, social enterprises and economic empowerment remain its key goals. The social enterprise “Sthree”, meaning “woman” in Tamil and Sinhala, was founded in 2011 with the goal of empowering women and their local communities. The platform provides a market in Kandy for Sri Lankan women and disabled people to sell handmade products, such as saris, jewelry, decor, snacks and chutneys, recycled paper products and eco-friendly purses and handbags. Sthree also provides training and skill-building workshops for women and disabled individuals. Sthree is beginning to expand to an international clientele, even hosting an international exhibition and sale in Sweden in 2016.

A woman making brooms for a woman’s cooperative in Sri Lanka. Foley. CC2.0

Puthukkudiyiruppu Women Entrepreneurs’ Cooperative Society

The PTK Cooperative, initially founded by Krishnakumar Jeyaranjini and 14 other women in 2012, provides a platform for war-affected women to support themselves and their families economically. The business has expanded over the years, producing detergent, chili powder and rice flour. The organization has the backing of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which helps link it to buyers, markets and social enterprises. The organization enables collaboration between women from different ethnic groups and communities in Sri Lanka, helping to create social cohesion and tolerance. The organization continues to defy gender norms and stereotypes.  “Often the words ‘woman’ and ‘detergent’ bring out gendered images of a woman washing clothes at home, not of a woman owning or running a successful detergent-producing enterprise,” said Simrin Singh, director of the ILO country office for Sri Lanka. “It is stories of our work empowering women like Jeyaranjini, building block by block, that are the essential inspiration so many other women in this country could use to break the barriers to their empowerment.”

Although Sri Lanka has made considerable progress toward gender equality in the last 50 years, many obstacles remain. Empowering women at a grassroots level helps provide women more economic agency while ensuring the well-being of generations to come. 

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Megan Gürer

Megan is a Turkish-American student at Wellesley College in Massachusetts studying Biological Sciences. Passionate about environmental issues and learning about other cultures, she dreams of exploring the globe. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, singing, and composing music.

How LGBTQ People are Resisting Bolsonaro’s Brazil Through Art

Jair Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil in October 2018 and took office in January 2019. Since then, the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights has chosen to remove the legal protection status of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) people. Some politicians are now pushing for a ban on talking about gender diversity and sexual orientation in schools.

Bathroom laws pertaining to which toilet facilities trans people are allowed to use and bills defining what constitutes a family, same sex marriage and laws enabling trans people to change their legal name are also seen to be under threat.

Brazil has a reputation as one of the most violent countries in the world and is known as the LGBT “murder capital” – 167 trans people were reported murdered between October 1, 2017 and September 30, 2018 alone. In the lead up to and since Bolsonaro’s election, LGBT hate crime has increased.

No wonder that many Brazilian LGBTQ people are worried that they are becoming isolated from the rest of the world. Marielle Franco – a young politician who took a strong stance against police violence – was murdered in Rio de Janeiro in March 2018.

She was a bisexual black woman who grew up in the Maré favela and pushed for social justice for marginalised people in the city. She was reportedly targeted by professional killers.

In Brazil, military police patrol the streets and are independent from the municipal police who carry out investigations. In March 2019, a year after her murder, it was reported that two ex-military police had been arrested for the killing.

Theusa Passareli – a 21-year-old art student who identified as genderqueer or non-binary – was murdered in April 2018, killed on their way home from a party.

Their work was incomplete in Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janiero’s design studio when I visited in November 2018 and will stay to commemorate their memory, as the university and the trans community mourn the murder of another young person.

Resin on glass by Theusa Passareli. Catherine McNamara, Author provided

A safe place to protest

I was in Rio for a short residency with the TransArte festival – a three day art show that explores gender identity and sexuality. The festival brings together trans people and allies to exchange ideas, make and share work, and celebrate the strengths of the LGBT community in Brazil within a place of safety.

It’s not easy to protest when faced with violence, nor is it easy to enjoy culture – particularly for people living in poverty where basic needs are difficult to meet. Trans artists have said that being trans is a barrier to participating in the arts, but “safe spaces” such as the TransArte festival allow protest art to flourish and create opportunities for LGBTQ people to express themselves.

Trans and LGB artists, activists and educators from Rio de Janeiro and London. TransArte Festival Team, Author provided

Trans and LGB artists, activists and educators from Rio de Janeiro and London. TransArte Festival Team, Author provided

A theatre company led by trans people created Come As You Are – a series of autobiographical stories with physical theatre and improvisation. The stories were about family – supportive and loving family as a source of strength, and familial rejection as a result of being trans.

They explored life as trans men and women in a culture of toxic masculinity, normativity and police brutality. A photography exhibition of several artists included Bernardo de Castro Gomes, whose work also explored his identity as a black trans man facing intimidation, harassment and violence.

Queer drag artists such as Le Circo de la Drag spoke about their political performance – using their bodies to resist toxic masculinity and defy the threats of violence they often receive.

Le Circo de la drag pay tribute to Marielle Franco and Theusa Passareli. Marianna Cartaxo, Author provided

The show Monster, Whore, Bitch – Waldirene’s Dreams, directed by Dandara Vital, compiled the everyday experiences of Brazilian trans people interwoven with a re-telling of the story of Waldirene – the first trans woman to undergo gender reassignment surgery in Brazil in December 1971, at the height of the military dictatorship.

Resistance is clearly flourishing in Brazil against the odds and not only within festivals like TransArte. A Portuguese translation of Jo Clifford’splay The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven was due to open in Londrina, a city in southern Brazil, but the venue cancelled at the very last moment.

The lead, a trans woman called Renata Carvalho, received death threats. The company moved to a semi-derelict space where they performed by torchlight instead, despite injunctions from both Pentecostal and Catholic groups to stop the production.

My own experiences working with the TransArte festival team in Rio have shown me the value of safe places free from judgement and hostility. The people we worked with told us that being there in solidarity with the trans communities of Rio felt like a powerful action in itself, resisting the culture of violence that thrives in Bolsonaro’s Brazil.

CATHERINE MCNAMARA is Head of School (Art, Design and Performance) at the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries at the University of Portsmouth.

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE CONVERSATION.

What We Can Learn From an Indonesian Ethnicity that Recognizes Five Genders

On June 13, when a judge in Oregon allowed a person to legally choose neither sex and be classified as “nonbinary,” transgender activists rejoiced. It’s thought to be the first ruling of its kind in a country that, until now, has required that people mark “male” or “female” on official identity documents.

The small victory comes in the wake of a controversial new law in North Carolina that prevents transgender people from using public restrooms that do not match the sex on their birth certificates.

The conflict rooted in these recent policies is nothing new; for years, people have been asking questions about whether the “sex” we are born with should dictate things like which public facilities we can use, what to tick on our passport application and who’s eligible to play on particular sports teams.

But what if gender were viewed the same way sex researcher Alfred Kinsey famously depicted sexuality – as something along a sliding scale?

In fact, there’s an ethnic group in South Sulawesi, Indonesia – the Bugis – that views gender this way. For my Ph.D. research, I lived in South Sulawesi in the late 1990s to learn more about the Bugis’ various ways of understanding sex and gender. I eventually detailed these conceptualizations in my book “Gender Diversity in Indonesia.”

Does society dictate our gender?

For many thinkers, such as gender theorist Judith Butler, requiring everyone to choose between the “female” and “male” toilet is absurd because there is no such thing as sex to begin with.

According to this strain of thinking, sex doesn’t mean anything until we become engendered and start performing “sex” through our dress, our walk, our talk. In other words, having a penis means nothing before society starts telling you that if you have one you shouldn’t wear a skirt (well, unless it’s a kilt).

Nonetheless, most talk about sex as if everyone on the planet was born either female or male. Gender theorists like Butler would argue that humans are far too complex and diverse to enable all seven billion of us to be evenly split into one of two camps.

This comes across most clearly in how doctors treat children born with “indeterminate” sex (such as those born with androgen insensitivity syndrome, hypospadias or Klinefelter syndrome). In cases where a child’s sex is indeterminate, doctors used to simply measure the appendage to see if the clitoris was too long – and therefore, must be labeled a penis – or vice versa. Such moves arbitrarily forced a child under the umbrella of one sex or the other, rather than letting the child grow naturally with their body.

Gender on a spectrum

Perhaps a more useful way to think about sex is to see sex as a spectrum.

While all societies are highly and diversely gendered, with specific roles for women and men, there are also certain societies – or, at least, individuals within societies – who have nuanced understandings of the relationship between sex (our physical bodies), gender (what culture makes of those bodies) and sexuality (which kinds of bodies we desire).

Indonesia may be in the press for terror attacks and executions, but it’s actually a very tolerant country. In fact, Indonesia is the world’s fourth-largest democracy, and furthermore, unlike North Carolina, it currently has no anti-LGBT policy. Moreover, Indonesians can select “transgender” (waria) on their identity card (although given the recent, unprecedented wave of violence against LGBT people, this may change).

The Bugis are the largest ethnic group in South Sulawesi, numbering around three million people. Most Bugis are Muslim, but there are many pre-Islamic rituals that continue to be honored in Bugis culture, which include distinct views of gender and sexuality.

Their language offers five terms referencing various combinations of sex, gender and sexuality: makkunrai (“female women”), oroani (“male men”), calalai (“female men”), calabai (“male women”) and bissu (“transgender priests”). These definitions are not exact, but suffice.

During the early part of my Ph.D. research, I was talking with a man who, despite having no formal education, was a critical social thinker.

As I was puzzling about how Bugis might conceptualize sex, gender and sexuality, he pointed out to me that I was mistaken in thinking that there were just two discrete sexes, female and male. Rather, he told me that we are all on a spectrum:

Imagine someone is here at this end of a line and that they are, what would you call it, XX, and then you travel along this line until you get to the other end, and that’s XY. But along this line are all sorts of people with all sorts of different makeups and characters.

This spectrum of sex is a good way of thinking about the complexity and diversity of humans. When sex is viewed through this lens, North Carolina’s law prohibiting people from choosing which toilet they can use sounds arbitrary, forcing people to fit into spaces that might conflict with their identities.

SHARYN GRAHAM DAVIES is an Associate Professor of Social Sciences at Auckland University of Technology.

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE CONVERSATION

VIDEO: Introduction to Women's Status is Cambodia

This video was produced by Promotion of Women's Rights project (2002-2011), predecessor to Access to Justice for Women project. The video comprises an overall introduction to women's status in Cambodia as well as the main actions undertaken by the Ministry of Women's Affairs -with the support from GIZ- in order to tackle gender inequalities and gender-based violence in Cambodia.