Gender inequality has been an ongoing issue eversince the first record of history. Today, with rising empowerment and the right protesting, the value of women in the perception of global societies has risen significantly. However, there is still an issue of giving women a secondary rank in terms of societal values. Women, being married young, beginning to work before they become adolescents, and living in countries below the poverty line, tend to validate being beated by their husbands for burning the food, an issue that can arise from juggling so many responsibilities around and forgetting the stove on for as little as 1 minute extra. Although it seems that the poverty line in these women’s countries would lead women to be subject to such values, the key would lie in a more concrete matter, which is education. Education is key to empowerment, to discovering one’s boundaries, and to be able to develop a skill set to be more productive, more efficient, and have more impact. This has proven successful in countries in Northern Africa and the Middle East, and would be ideal if it were to be applied in Africa. In conclusion, investing in the education system must be the primary focus of a nation willing to end its gender gap.
Literacy, as part of education, is a fundamental human right. Yet there are, according to UNESCO, 781 million illiterate adults (over the age of 15) around the globe. Over 63% of those adults are women. In countries like Niger, literacy rates are as low as 24%.
Fundamental human rights are just that — fundamental. These figures are also important because literacy (and numeracy) is one of the key ingredients to ending extreme poverty. As former UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in 2015: “The future starts with the alphabet.”
So, which countries have the highest illiteracy rates? Why are illiteracy rates that high in these countries? How can we decrease illiteracy rates?
According to UNESCO, about 258 million children and youth are out of school for the school year ending in 2018. The total includes 59 million children of primary school age, 62 million of lower secondary school age and 138 million of upper secondary age. This is a major humanitarian challenge that all countries have united to address by anchoring it within SDG number 4: Quality Education.
Every Child deserves the opportunity to learn. In this Dashboard, we tried to show visualizations that highlight the reality behind Children Out Of School.
Poverty is a barrier that keeps children out of schools.
The gap between males and females attending schools was equal to 14% in 1970 and decreased to reach 2% in 2018. For girls in some part of this world, education chances are still restricted.
