Women Deliver: Utilizing education’s influence to eradicate detrimental gender norms and stereotypes within educational institutions

Women Deliver: Utilizing education’s influence to eradicate detrimental gender norms and stereotypes within educational institutions

Lloyd Jacobs
Comment Icon0 Comments
Reading Time Icon4 min read

During the Women Deliver conference, a concurrent session organized by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), alongside Girls Not Brides, the UNGEI-led Partner Coalition for Ending Gender Stereotypes in Schools (represented by Equimundo, Room to Read, UN Girls’ Education Initiative, Transform Education, UNICEF India, VVOB), AU-CIEFFA, and UNAIDS, spotlighted the use of education to combat detrimental gender norms and stereotypes within school settings.

Education: the pathway to gender equality

The event emphasized education’s pivotal role in advancing gender equality and disrupting harmful gender norms and stereotypes. This involves fostering attitudes and norms that promote gender equity, benefiting both present and future generations. The discussion revolved around two main themes: “gender norms from communities to society” and “gender stereotypes within schools,” with a consistent focus on “youth engagement in combating harmful gender norms and stereotypes in educational settings.” Diverse perspectives were shared by attendees, including youth activists, intergovernmental bodies, government representatives, survivors of gender-based violence (GBV), civil society organizations, and foundations, representing various regions.

The event delved into how education intertwines with the path to gender equality and how organizations like the Global Partnership for Education embed gender equality into their education reform strategies to address detrimental societal norms and gender biases. The dialogue highlighted cross-cutting themes such as intergenerational feminist collaboration and the leadership of young feminists in policymaking and advocacy. It explored strategies to position educational systems as crucial platforms for fostering societal changes that eliminate structural inequalities in education, especially for girls.

For every additional year a girl stays in secondary education, there is a 6-percentage point greater chance that she will not enter child marriage

Dr. Faith Mwangi-Powell, speaking on behalf of Girls Not Brides during the event, underscored education as a conduit for gender equality, particularly stressing the importance of reaching girls who face barriers to schooling. Highlighting education’s role in ending GBV, Faith emphasized the necessity for education policies rooted in gender-transformative approaches (GTA), addressing gender stereotypes in schools, and advocating for comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) for both girls and boys. She also stressed the urgency of combating GBV, including providing separate sanitation facilities in schools to prevent girls from dropping out early. Additionally, Faith emphasized the importance of ensuring unfettered access to education for all girls, including abolishing school fees, facilitating divorce for married girls/adolescents, and eradicating stigma around pregnant girls in educational settings.

Key takeaways

The session facilitated various discussions concerning education’s role in eradicating harmful gender norms and stereotypes within schools, emphasizing the significance of a comprehensive approach within schools and early childhood education to effectively address gender inequalities and stereotypes. It also emphasized the vital link between communities and schools, stressing community engagement in advocating for girls’ education. Additionally, speakers highlighted the pivotal role of quality education in empowering youth to drive positive societal and economic changes, emphasizing the immense economic value associated with granting all girls access to twelve years of education.

Safety within and outside school premises was another crucial focus, especially during commuting. Addressing the prevalent risk and occurrence of sexual and gender-based violence against girls, the session underscored the importance of ensuring access to support services without stigma as a means to address these challenges. Moreover, working with boys in schools to challenge gender stereotypes using gender-transformative approaches (GTA) and questioning gender dynamics across stakeholders was emphasized as a means to expedite change.

Sally Gear, Senior Gender Advisor at the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), highlighted GPE’s commitment to embedding gender equality throughout its initiatives, supporting partner countries in identifying and addressing gender disparities within education systems. Sally emphasized GPE’s support for civil society organizations (CSOs) and gender actors, stressing the collaborative responsibility of all partners in upholding gender equality within GPE processes. Additionally, the importance of comprehensive approaches to system-level changes and mitigating backlash, such as offering inclusive support to pregnant girls to re-enter school without discrimination, was highlighted.

The intervention by Silas Ngayaboshya, Director General of the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, Rwanda, provided valuable insights into the Rwandan Government’s efforts to integrate gender considerations into budgeting processes and document successful strategies for promoting gender equality.

Several speakers shared personal narratives, highlighting gender inequalities as obstacles to education. Themes such as intergenerational influences, sexual orientation, gender identities, and cultural biases linked to gender stereotypes were explored within these stories.

Call to Action

Speakers, each in their unique manner, advocated for and reached a consensus on the necessity of educational planning that places gender equality at its core, envisioning communities where both girls and boys can pursue learning free from the specter of violence. Such inclusive planning aims to enable equal access to opportunities, allowing individuals to thrive regardless of their gender.

Share this article

Lloyd Jacobs
About Author

Lloyd Jacobs

Seattle-based software engineer Lloyd Jacobs, driven by passion and curiosity, excels in coding, UI design, and backend optimization, blends tech expertise with nature exploration and mentoring. More About Me

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts