Gender Equitable Education

Importance of Gender Equitable Education

Inequities with respect to gender are frequently compounded by other status characteristics such as race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation/identity, wealth, age, and social status. Those with multiple lower-valued status characteristics often receive the fewest benefits and the most severe negative consequences.

In some societies, such as India, the preference for males is so strong that aided by the increased use of ultrasound machines during pregnancies, there has been a disproportionate increase in female abortions and male births. Female, more often than male, students are recipients of sexual harassment and violence. For example, girls are more frequent victims of school shootings in the United States. In Afghanistan, even after the end of the Taliban ban on girls attending school, girls and the schools they attend are more likely than are boys to be terrorist targets. The Global Gender Gap Report 2010 (Hausmann, Tyson, & Zahidi, 2010) found that 70% of the 130 million out-of-school youth are girls and that even where there is gender parity in school enrollment, the quality of girls' and boys' education is not equal. Low school attendance and literacy of girls compared with boys in many countries remain so serious that eliminating gender disparity in primary, secondary, and tertiary education by 2015 is a United Nations (UN) millennium development goal.

Attention to gender equity is also important for boys. They receive more athletic injuries, receive lower test scores in reading and writing, and in some countries take less advantage of tertiary education than their female peers do. In the United States, African American and Hispanic males often have the lowest educational attainment, and face harsher discipline, stereotyped low expectations (such as the likelihood of needing special education services or incarceration), or believe that they will not need much education because they can succeed in the labor market without education credentials. Boys and men also need to understand the value of gender equity in education and in society and how it increases their choices in careers and avocations, opens up new household and parenting roles, and develops healthier lifestyle choices.

Global studies show that the economies, health, education, and welfare of countries are positively associated with educating girls and their mothers. For example, increasing women farmers' rights and education can increase their food harvests. Increased education of mothers is also associated with fewer births and better health. There are some important global models of progress. In the Global Gender Gap Report 2011 (Hausmann et al., 2011), Iceland and the Nordic countries continued to have the highest overall scores in gender parity based on health and survival, political empowerment, economic participation and opportunity, and educational attainment. These and most industrialized countries including the United States had almost no gender gap in educational attainment as indicated by literacy rate and the ratio of women to men in primary-, secondary-, and tertiary-level education. Using laws such as Title IX (in the United States), which prohibits sex discrimination in education and attention to the millennium goals, countries have been increasing parity in key [Page 962]educational attainments such as college degrees at all levels, including doctorates. In 2008, U.S. women caught up, and slightly surpassed men in receiving doctoral degrees.

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