GENDER EQUALITY IN EDUCATION OF AFGHANISTAN

Group 5, UNV 100, AUAF

WHAT IT IS! Gender equality is defined in Oxford

Dictionary as “the state in which access to rights or opportunities is unaffected by gender.”

4 dimension of Gender Equality (Subrahmanian 2003)

equality of access, equality in the learning process, equality in educational outcomes and equality of external results

WHERE WE AREGENERAL EDUCATION Nearly 7 million children are enrolled in

schools , around 37% or 2.5 million of them are girls

An over eight-fold increase in the number of teachers to 170,000 (30% female)

Over 79,000 students graduated from grade 12 in 1387 (26% female)

WHERE WE AREHIGHER EDUCATION Gender inequality in higher education is

higher than in general education According to Packer (2010), “by 2001 there

were just 7800 students representing one of the lowest enrolment rates in the world.”

According to MoHE, about (99,530) students are studying in the public universities across the country of which 19% were female

BARRIERS:

Culture and history has the most influential impact on human society.

limited right over decision making. Afghan pride patrilocality lack of education (85% of women are

illiterate)

RELIGION AND STEREOTYPES Islam gives equal rights to both gender 1 wrong interpretation of Islam Beliefs which we develop over a period of time. 2 Age (our people don’t like a big girl going to

school, that is also why my father doesn’t let me, he doesn’t want to be embarrassed by relatives and friends (Yasmin 14 years old) {Hunte2005}

3 Mental segregations (some grow up seeing themselves lower than man

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS 1 security

2 geography

3 economy

poverty is the most integral part of gender bias in third world countries

STRATEGIES

STRATEGIES FOR GIRLS’ EDUCATION 1- Taking special measures to reach

the most disadvantaged girls.

2- Locating schools closer to children’s homes

3- Making sure girls and boys are safe. Breaking the silence about violence at

school.

STRATEGIES FOR GIRLS’ EDUCATION 4- Involving the local community.

5- Making sure men and boys are involved.

6- Promoting sports in schools.

7- Recruiting and training teachers.