Goal 3 Promote gender equality and empower women A ragged kind of parity in school enrollments
3a
Ratio of girls’ to boys’ gross enrollment, 2011 (%)
Primary
East Asia & Pacific
Secondary Tertiary
Europe & Central Asia
Latin America & Caribbean
Middle East & North Africa
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
0
25
50
75
100
125
Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Institute of Statistics and World Development Indicators database.
Progress toward gender equality in education, 1990–2010
3b
Share of countries making progress toward gender equality in primary and secondary education (%) 100
50
0
50
100
Reached target Insufficient data
On track
Off track
Seriously off track
Europe Latin Middle East & Central America & & North Asia Caribbean Africa Source: World Bank staff calculations.
6
World Development Indicators 2013
East Asia & Pacific
Front
South Asia
?
Sub-Saharan Africa
User guide
Women make important contributions to economic and social development. Expanding opportunities for them in the public and private sectors is a core development strategy, and education is the starting point. By enrolling and staying in school, girls gains skills needed to enter the labor market, care for families, and make decisions for themselves. Achieving gender equality in education is an important demonstration that young women are full, contributing members of society. Girls have made substantial gains in school enrollment. In 1990 girls’ primary school enrollment rate in developing countries was only 86 percent of boys’. By 2011 it was 97 percent (figure 3a). Similar improvements have been made in secondary schooling, where girls’ enrollments have risen from 78 percent of boys’ to 96 percent over the same period. But the averages mask large differences across countries. At the end of 2011, 31 upper middle-income countries had reached or exceeded equal enrollment of girls in primary and secondary education, as had 23 lower middle-income countries but only 9 low-income countries. South Asia and Sub- Saharan Africa are lagging behind (figure 3b). Patterns of school attendance at the national level mirror those at the regional level: poor households are less likely than wealthy households to keep their children in school, and girls from wealthier households are more likely to enroll in school and stay longer. Ethiopia is just one example of the prevailing pattern documented by household surveys from many developing countries (figure 3c). More women are participating in public life at the highest levels. The proportion of parliamentary seats held by women continues to increase. In Latin America and the Caribbean women now hold 25 percent of all parliamentary seats (figure 3d). The most impressive gains have been made in the Middle East and North Africa, where the proportion of seats held by women more than tripled between 1990 and 2012. Algeria leads the way with 32 percent. In Nepal a third of parliamentary
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