Education and training. A case of unequal access

Girls and women in most developing countries have far less access to quality education and training than do their male counterparts. This is a major economic and social development issue. It begins with basic education and continues through to higher education. A firm linkage has been demonstrated between greater access of girls to educational opportunities and improvements in health, family planning, and economic development.

Another potential challenge exists in many of the more economically developed countries of the OECD, and in the Caribbean; namely, a trend toward a growing disproportion of far higher female enrollment and graduation rates at secondary levels, and even more at higher levels. Paradoxically, in the future this could create barriers to equal access for young males in the form of higher dropout rates at secondary level and restrictions on access to higher education, even as gender segregation in secondary technical education and in higher education continues.

One contributing factor in both contexts is persistent gender disequilibrium in the teaching profession, including technical and vocational education. The minority position of women teachers in certain regions - Africa and south Asia in particular - has been directly linked to the under-enrollment and high dropout rates of girls. The small number of women teachers and trainers to serve as role models and advisors capable of encouraging girls and women to pursue careers in technical trades, is another - and important - barrier to equality of opportunity in these fields.

Recent research by the ILO suggests that the highly feminized nature of the teaching profession in some countries may have a negative impact on improvements in salaries and other conditions of service which contribute to a higher professional status, recruitment and maintenance of high quality graduates in teaching, and ultimately, quality education for both males and females. Continued prosperity and a dynamic labour market in many OECD countries continues to attract many highly qualified men and women to career choices other than teaching, leading to shortages - in both numbers and quality - which are likely to be aggravated as a "graying" teaching profession faces large-scale departures of professionals from the present generation.

There is a preponderance of women teachers at the pre-primary level in almost all countries (more than 90% in most, a minimum of 50% in the rest) and at the primary level (over 80%) and secondary level (60%) in most developed countries. This trend has continued to rise in the 1990s. Yet, women teachers constitute only one-third of all teachers at the primary level in developing countries taken as a whole, and less than 30% at secondary level, with a trend toward very slow increases in the numbers of women teachers at both levels.

With rare exception, however, women are seriously under-represented in senior teaching and management posts. Moreover, despite the absence of more detailed data disaggregated (i.e., broken down) by sex in most countries, in almost all regions, de facto, women earn less overall than men because of lower qualifications (in many developing countries), interruptions in their careers for family responsibilities, and their relative absence from positions of responsibility. Some indications of sexual harassment have been noted as impeding careers. However, the largest barrier to equality in career development remains male-biased recruitment procedures and criteria, which do not sufficiently account for the demands on women arising from family responsibilities and the persistence of "camouflaged" stereotypes concerning their suitability for leadership roles.

In a few countries, statutory discrimination in the allocation of allowances and subsidies also persists. Even in the absence of such discrimination, ILO surveys have shown that women teachers and trainers in many countries earn less than their male counterparts at the same levels, and in the same subjects, at secondary and higher education levels. One contributing factor is that women are not proportionately represented in the decision-making structures of teachers' unions and professional associations, which has minimized the attention to their concerns in collective bargaining outcomes and professional standard-setting.

There are very few women teachers in technical and vocational education and training, and they are mostly in a limited number of disciplines which are traditionally "feminine", such as secretarial and office work, and domestic science. In higher education, women professors tend to be concentrated in lower-level institutions out of all proportion to their numbers. And they are at the lower rungs of the career ladder in the high prestige universities, and in managerial positions concerned with areas such as student services rather than the most important academic posts of dean or head of department.

In order to influence increases in enrollments and completion of studies by girl students in countries where women teachers are relatively few - especially in rural areas - some educational authorities have instituted special programmes to recruit, train, and guarantee accommodation for women teachers. Other countries have established special programmes to award seniority credits for women who interrupt careers for family reasons, they have created joint (male and female) promotion panels, introduced quotas, or extended training programmes to encourage women to remain in teaching and to gain greater access to responsible posts.

What else can be done?

Include gender issues in education policy documents, including national plans, promote gender awareness and give problem-solving training for members of policy and planning units
Systematically collect and use sex-disaggregated data on the numbers of women teachers/trainers, their location by rural or urban area, rank in the education or public service and position on the salary scale
Design and implement gender training packages at teacher training institutions and in continuing training programmes
Provide material and administrative support for gender-specific training programmes for women, to focus on developing leadership capacity
Systematically review and eliminate any overt discrimination in remuneration scales (base salary and allowances) and teaching service regulations, as well as any practices of sexual harassment
Within teachers' unions and professional associations, establish awareness and training programmes to help propel more women teachers into positions of responsibility in teachers' organisations and professional bodies

Gender! A Partnership of Equals
Geneve: International Labour Office, 2000. 115 p.

Education and training
A case of unequal access

Gender! A Partnership of Equals Geneve: International Labour Office, 2000. 115 p.

Education and training A case of unequal access

Gender! A Partnership of Equals
Geneve: International Labour Office, 2000. 115 p.

Education and training
A case of unequal access