Figure 1.6 Ratio of net secondary attendance rates of girls in the richest wealth quintile to girls in the poorest quintile, 2000-2005 and 2007-2013 Inequality in secondary school attendance between the richest and poorest girls has declined in most countries, but large disparities remain
Decreasing inequality
No change
50
Increasing inequality
40
Ratio
30 20 10
2000-2005
0 Egypt
Guinea
Namibia
Kenya
Ghana
Malawi
Colombia
Nepal
Dominican Republic
Bolivia, Plurinational State of
Lesotho
Cameroon
Zambia
Benin
Rwanda
Uganda
Haiti
Mali
Cambodia
Senegal
Burkina Faso
Madagascar
Mozambique
2007-2013
Source: UN Women calculations using data from DHS.98
Disparities across regions also remain wide. Between 2000 and 2012, the gender parity index (GPI) in net secondary enrolment increased from 0.92 to 0.96 overall, but GPI values ranged from a high of 1.07 in Latin America and the Caribbean (denoting an advantage for girls) to a low of 0.87 in sub-Saharan Africa.99 The heavy focus on increasing enrolments in recent years, in the drive towards achieving the MDGs, has also arguably come at the cost of attention to the quality of education. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reports that at least 250 million of the world’s 650 million primary school age children
are not learning the basics in reading and mathematics.100 Several country studies show that gender, rural location and poverty play a key role in determining learning outcomes.101
Slow progress in health
Progress has been slower in women’s health outcomes. There are serious challenges in obtaining data on maternal mortality, but globally there were an estimated 289,000 maternal deaths in 2013, down 45 per cent from the level in 1990.102 This is a very significant decline but far short of the MDG target to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters
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