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What’s the Difference?
Confronting Factors that Affect Gender Equality in Education
East Asia and Pacific Regional UNGEI
c/o UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office
19 Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200 Thailand
Tel: (66-2) 356 9499 Fax: (66-2) 280 3536
Email: eapro@unicef.org
Websites: www.ungei.org and www.unicef.org/eapro
Cover photo: UNICEF EAPRO SMOA00018/Giacomo Pirozzi/Samoa
East Asia and Pacific Regional UNGEI

Goals for Gender Equality in Education
The six Education for All goals:
• Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for
the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.
• Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult
circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and
complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
• Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable
access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes.
• Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially
for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.
• Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and
achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full
and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.
• Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that
recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy,
numeracy and essential life skills.
Millennium Development Goal 3:
Promote gender equality and empower women
Target: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005,
and at all levels by 2015.

UNICEF EAPRO THL00015/Palani Mohan/Thailand
East Asia and Pacific Regional UNGEI
Since its launch in May 2002, the East Asia and Pacific Regional UN Girls’ Education Initiative
(UNGEI) has sought to establish networks and partnerships among experts and organizations
promoting gender equality in education. The goal of the regional group is to ensure the
availability of quality education for all girls and boys across the region. The group works within
the framework of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); the Dakar Framework for Action,
Education for All; the Beijing Platform for Action; and the World Fit for Children.
Partner organizations at the regional level include Bahá’í International Community; Education
Development Center (EDC); International Labour Organization (ILO) Regional Office for Asia and
the Pacific; Plan Asia Regional Office; Save the Children Sweden, Southeast Asia and the Pacific
Regional Office; Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Secretariat;
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Regional Support Team, Asia Pacific;
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP); United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Asia-Pacific Regional
Bureau for Education; United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) East Asia and Pacific Regional
Office; and World Vision Foundation of Thailand.
East Asia and Pacific Regional UNGEI
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UNICEF EAPRO 04395/Jim Holmes/ Lao PDR
Key Issues
Beyond gender parity
Gender parity indices indicate that parity or near-parity has been achieved in primary education
enrolment (equal proportions of girls and boys enrolled in primary education) in the region.
Of the 19 countries with available data for 2005, 16 had reached the target of gender parity
in primary education, part of the first time-bound target of the Dakar Framework for Action,
Education for All. Five countries were close to achieving the target, but there were still fewer
girls in comparison with boys in primary school. At the secondary education level, 9 countries
had achieved gender parity by 2005.
Despite progress in education enrolment, countries in the region are still far from achieving
gender equality in education, a goal that goes beyond gender parity and access to education
(gender equality to education). Gender equality also includes equality in the quality of education
received and in teaching and learning processes (gender equality in education) as well as in the
opportunities available through education (gender equality through education).
Within classrooms, gender biases persist in textbooks and learning materials, with women and
men often portrayed in stereotypical roles (e.g., girls looking after younger siblings, women
doing housework, boys playing football, men as policemen, doctors or leaders, etc.), and in the
practices of teachers and their interaction with students. Girls/women and boys/men still often
pursue what are considered typically ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ academic and training fields.
What’s the Difference?
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Confronting Factors that Affect Gender Equality in Education

For example, the fields of education and the humanities are in most cases dominated by women,
while there are few women studying engineering. The teaching profession is predominantly
female in many parts of the region, particularly at the lower education levels, with few male
role models for boys in their early years in school. Other countries are faced with a lack of
qualified female teachers, especially in remote and rural areas. School management and
administration are often dominated by men, with low female representation at these decision-
making levels.
The following table shows the Gender Parity Index (GPI) of enrolment ratios in primary,
secondary and tertiary education in the East Asia and Pacific region.
Gender Parity Index (GPI) of enrolment ratios for East Asia and the Pacific

Less girls/women
Parity
Less boys/men
Far from the goal
Intermediate
Close to the goal
Goal achieved
Close to the goal
Intermediate
Far from the goal
(GPI below 0.80)
(GPI 0.80 to 0.94)
(GPI 0.95 to 0.96)
(GPI 0.97 to 1.03)
(GPI 1.04 to 1.05)
(GPI 1.06 to 1.25)
(GPI above 1.25)
Primary Education
Indonesia,
Australia, Brunei,
Lao PDR, Solomon
Cambodia, Fiji,
Islands, Thailand,
Japan, Republic of
Tonga
Korea, Malaysia,
Marshall Islands,
Mongolia,
Myanmar, New
Zealand,
Philippines,
Samoa, Vanuatu

Secondary Education
Cambodia,
Niue, Solomon
Australia
China, Cook
Brunei, Marshall
Fiji, Kiribati,
Lao PDR, Papua
Islands, Tokelau,
Islands, Indonesia, Islands, Thailand
Malaysia,
New Guinea
Vanuatu
Japan, Republic of
Micronesia,
Korea, Myanmar,
Mongolia, Nauru,
Singapore,
New Zealand,
Timor-Leste,
Palau, Philippines,
Viet Nam
Samoa, Tonga
Tertiary Education
Cambodia,

Japan
China
Australia,

Brunei, Malaysia,
Indonesia,
Fiji, Philippines,
Marshall Islands,
Republic of Korea,
Thailand
Mongolia, New
Lao PDR, Vanuatu,
Zealand, Tonga
Viet Nam
Note: This is based on the net enrolment ratio for primary education and the gross enrolment ratios for secondary and tertiary education for
countries for which data were available.
Source: UNESCO. 2007. Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2008. Education for All by 2015: Will we make it?
Key Issues
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Furthermore, achieving gender parity has not necessarily led to equality in education outcomes
in the region. Even in those cases where there are higher proportions of girls than boys enrolled
in secondary and tertiary education, the question remains as to whether this has really
translated into changes in gender equality in economic, social and political spheres after girls
leave school. In the transitions from school to work, women are often consigned to professions
such as teachers and caregivers, and wide gaps remain in women’s estimated earned income
compared with men. Women’s participation in public life and in leadership positions remains
low, and women and girls continue to be victims of gender-based discrimination and violence.
Moreover, poverty remains largely feminized in this region.
The many faces of bias
National aggregate figures for gender parity may not fully reflect local realities and often mask
disparities at the sub-national level, with pockets of unreached children, mostly girls, from
ethnic minorities, migrant families, or among those who are displaced by conflict or natural
disasters, who are poor, who are child labourers, who live in remote areas, or have disabilities.
The barriers to education based on gender biases may be compounded by these factors. These
children are often also vulnerable to various forms of social exploitation and denied their right
to education.
iet Nam
UNICEF EAPRO MG_7704/Doan Bao Chau/V
An ethnic minority girl at Hoang Thu Pho primary school, Bac Ha District, Lao Cai Province, Viet Nam
What’s the Difference?
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Confronting Factors that Affect Gender Equality in Education

Gender parity in net attendance ratio in secondary or higher education,
Viet Nam, 2006
North East
North West
Red River Delta
North Central Coast
Viet Nam
Girls significantly disadvantaged
South Central Coast

Gender parity achieved

Boys significantly disadvantaged

Central Highlands
South East
Mekong River Delta
Source: GSO. 2006. Viet Nam Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2006, Final Report. Hanoi, Viet Nam: General Statistics Office.
The case of Viet Nam highlights the importance of digging deeper and looking at sub-national
level data to gain a better understanding of where the gender disparities are. At the national
level, the GPI for the net attendance ratio in secondary and higher education is 1.02 (UNICEF
estimate calculated with results from the Viet Nam Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey), indicating
that gender parity has been achieved (within the gender parity band of 0.97 and 1.03). However,
a closer look at the sub-national level reveals a more varied picture, with significant disparities
to the disadvantage of girls in the North East and to the disadvantage of boys in the South East
and Central Highlands regions, calling for targeted action to address the gender disparities in
these areas.
Key Issues
5

Boys too!
In this region, both girls and boys face obstacles in their participation in school, underlining the
fact that promoting gender equality is not just about women and girls, but men and boys as
well. While gains have been made towards universal primary education and many countries
have achieved or are close to achieving gender parity in primary school enrolment, gender
parity has not yet been reached at the secondary education level, with boys at the disadvantage
in some cases. Of the 31 countries for which data were available, 14 had lower proportions of
boys enrolled in secondary education than girls in 2005, including Fiji, Malaysia, Mongolia,
Thailand, the Philippines, Samoa and Tonga. One reason for this is that boys are often
co-opted to work full-time to earn money, putting an end to their formal learning. In Mongolia,
for example, boys drop out of school to contribute to household incomes by working with
livestock. Male child labour in this case is very much influenced by poverty. At the tertiary
education level, there is a growing trend of higher rates of girls’ enrolment, and a ‘reverse’
gender gap.
UNICEF EAPRO MGLA00526/Jim Holmes/Mongolia
Bayarkhuu, 11 years old, is often sent out to look after the goats or sheep quite a long distance from his home. It is very common in Mongolia for
boys to miss school for this reason.
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Confronting Factors that Affect Gender Equality in Education

u/China
UNICEF EAPRO CHI00007/ Liu Y
Recommendations and Strategies
Regional consultations have identified key recommendations and potential strategies to achieve
gender equality in education and to address remaining gaps and challenges, some of which are
outlined below.
Institutionalize gender mainstreaming in the education system:
In the effort to achieve gender equality in education, it is important to foster an organizational
culture in support of gender equality, incorporating a gender perspective in educational policies,
plans and programmes at all levels.
Strategies:
• Develop a legal platform for gender mainstreaming
• Build capacity at all levels, including teacher training colleges and among school
administrators
• Strengthen institutional mechanisms for mainstreaming gender: Form inter-sectoral/
inter-ministerial gender working groups/task forces/committees
• Ensure the allocation of financial resources to support efforts in gender mainstreaming
Recommendations and Strategies
7

Ensure the availability of sex-disaggregated data for refinement in targeting and
policy making:
Gaining an understanding of gender gaps in order to take appropriate measures to address
these gaps requires, as a first step, the availability of relevant data that are disaggregated by
sex. Greater awareness and recognition of the multifaceted nature of disparities faced by girls
and boys in the region are also important, calling for the use of a broader bias framework,
looking not only at gender bias, but other forms of bias as well. To accurately assess disparities,
it is therefore important that data are disaggregated by sex and by other factors such as
ethnicity, disability, socioeconomic quintiles, etc.
Strategies:
• Conduct sub-national studies/surveys to identify gender disparities
• Systematically review and validate data
Utilize sex-disaggregated data in policy making, planning, programming, evaluation
and budgeting:
It is not sufficient to only col ect sex-disaggregated data, but the data must also be utilized to
effectively address gender disparities and inequalities. Making the link between research and
policy is crucial and there is a need to advocate for more evidence-based policy making derived
from both quantitative and qualitative data and information.
Strategies:
• Raise awareness and advocate among policy makers, education planners and
implementers on the importance of evidence-based policy making
• Train statisticians, policy analysts and planners, Ministries of Women’s Affairs, Ministries
of Education, and other sectors/line ministries on analyzing and utilizing sex-disaggregated
quantitative and qualitative data and information
Promote female leadership in education:
Even though women are over-represented in the teaching profession in many parts of the region,
men often dominate the management positions as school administrators and members of school
committees. A more balanced representation of women and men in these positions can contribute
to ensuring the needs of both girls and boys are taken into account and the views of men and
women are equal y heard.

What’s the Difference?
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Confronting Factors that Affect Gender Equality in Education

Strategies:
• Review labour market policies and practices, particularly staff development processes
and strategies, with regard to salaries, status, benefits, promotion and retirement age
from a gender perspective
• Provide awards and incentives for outstanding female teachers and gender-responsive
teachers, both male and female
• Build capacity of women in leadership skills
• Raise awareness and advocate for women in leadership positions in the field of education
Ensure gender-responsive teaching and learning processes and materials:
Improving the quality of teaching and learning processes, learning materials and environments,
and ensuring that they are gender responsive require gender analysis and the collection of
qualitative data, in addition to quantitative data.
Strategies:
• Build capacity of textbook and curriculum writers in developing gender-responsive
curricula and learning materials
• Develop learning materials with positive female role models that are free of gender
stereotyping
• Conduct on-going and systematic reviews of teaching and learning processes within
classrooms and schools, and of learning materials from a gender perspective
• Encourage girls to enter non-traditional occupations and participate in technical and
vocational training
Make education services and facilities accessible to all, especially to unreached
and at-risk girls:
Promoting child-seeking schools which actively identify out-of-school girls and boys and get
them enrolled is critical to ensuring that girls and boys have access to school and are included
in learning. Various mechanisms to track out-of-school children can be utilized, such as parent-
teacher associations or involving students themselves in conducting mapping exercises to
identify peers from their communities who are not in school.

Strategies:
• Build schools in ethnic minority communities
• Recruit female teachers from ethnic minority groups to teach in their own communities
and serve as role models for girls to encourage their enrolment
• Offer multi-grade classes
• Provide grant/tuition assistance or scholarships
• Provide dormitories/boarding schools, especially for girls, in cases where distance to
school and safety and security may be an issue
Recommendations and Strategies
9

• Provide bilingual/multilingual education to address the multiple levels of barriers girls
and boys may face in receiving an education
• Provide alternative means of education, such as through non-formal/informal channels
• Advocate for the provision of education services to children of migrant workers, such as
through mobile schools designed to meet the particular needs of these communities

Allocate resources for promoting gender equality in education:
Gender budgeting allows for the analysis of budget allocations in the education system to
ensure resource allocations match policy pronouncements towards the achievement of gender
equality in education. While policies are in place in most countries in the region for
mainstreaming gender, there are often gaps at the level of implementation, and resources are
a key aspect.
Strategies:
• Review the allocation of resources (financial, human) for promoting gender equality in
education
• Advocate for a specific budget for gender programmes
• Develop case studies on gender budgeting initiatives
• Build capacity in gender budgeting
• Assess the impact of gender budgeting initiatives
Monitor and evaluate progress in mainstreaming gender in education systems:
While gender parity indices are calculated and used to monitor progress, the more qualitative
aspects of achieving gender equality are often overlooked. Indicators, data and information are
needed to assess the extent to which gender equality is being achieved in terms of processes
and outcomes, in addition to access.

Strategies:
• Develop indicators for measuring progress in achieving gender equality in education
(particularly on processes, achievements, outcomes – qualitative aspects), taking into
account the local context
• Conduct studies on female participation in governance of educational processes
• Monitor progress, looking into education and learning outcomes and the link of gender
parity to gender equality
What’s the Difference?
10 Confronting Factors that Affect Gender Equality in Education

Increase knowledge and understanding of gender issues:
Within an organizational structure that supports gender equality, incorporating gender training
in pre- and in-service teacher training and training key stakeholders with regard to gender
issues and analysis is crucial for generating greater awareness about inequalities that exist
and how to address them. It is important that the outcomes of such training are monitored and
evaluated to review the application of skills and knowledge gained and to assess changes
in practice.
Strategies:
• Train and mobilize teachers/education administrators/managers and other key stakeholders
at all levels in promoting gender equality in education
• Conduct regional and country studies on the links between education, employment and
political participation and other outcomes, with a focus on more qualitative research and
analysis
• Incorporate gender concepts and knowledge of the girl child/women’s rights starting at
the pre-school level, also including these aspects in life-skills education
• Document and disseminate good practices
A00046/photographer unknown/Papua New Guinea
AP
UNICEF EAPRO P
Recommendations and Strategies 11

East Asia and Pacific Regional UNGEI Publications
Towards Equal Opportunities for All: Empowering girls
through partnerships in education (2007)
Access to quality basic education is especially challenging for
certain disadvantaged groups, including girls, children living in
extreme poverty, ethnic minorities, migrants, children with
disabilities, working children, and children without proper
registration and documentation. These children are vulnerable
to various forms of social exploitation and are often denied
their right to education. It is for this reason that the East Asia
and Pacific Regional UNGEI came together to publish good
practice case studies from the region. The examples highlight
stories of overcoming the exploitation of girls and reaching
vulnerable or marginalized girls, with cases from Cambodia,
China, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Download at: www.ungei.org/resources/files/UNGEI_book_
Final_250607.pdf
Getting Girls Out of Work and Into School (2006)
Girls’ labour constitutes a major obstacle to achieving gender
parity and equality in primary and secondary education by
2015, as per the Dakar Framework for Action. Their work – in
the form of household chores, domestic servitude, agricultural
work and home-based work – can leave them vulnerable to
abuse and exploitation. Since the majority of girls who do not
attend school are likely to be working, efforts to increase girls’
education must go hand-in-hand with efforts to eliminate child
labour. What are the causes of girls’ labour and what kind of
impact does it have on their educational opportunities? This
brief, produced jointly by UNESCO Bangkok and the East Asia
and Pacific Regional UNGEI answers these questions and
provides examples of good practice, as well as strategies to
get girls out of work and into school.
Download at: www.ungei.org/resources/files/unesco_girls_
out_ofwork.pdf
What’s the Difference?
12 Confronting Factors that Affect Gender Equality in Education

Gender Definitions
Sex describes the biological differences between men and women, which are universal and
determined at birth.
Gender refers to the roles and responsibilities of men and women that are created in our families,
our societies and our cultures. The concept of gender also includes the expectations held about the
characteristics, aptitudes and likely behaviours of both women and men (femininity and masculinity).
These roles and expectations are learned and are not biologically predetermined nor fixed forever.
They can change over time and they vary within and between cultures.
Sex-disaggregated data is data on men and women that is collected and presented separately.
Gender parity deals with equality in numbers or proportions of girls/women and boys/men on a
specific attribute or variable.
Gender Parity Index (GPI) is the ratio of female to male values of a given indicator. A GPI of 1
(or within the band of 0.97 to 1.03) indicates parity between the sexes. A GPI of above 1 indicates a
disparity to the disadvantage of boys, while a GPI of below 1 indicates a disparity to the disadvantage
of girls.
Gender analysis is the collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated information. Men and women
both perform different roles. This leads to women and men having different experiences, knowledge,
talents and needs. Gender analysis explores these differences so policies, programmes and projects
can identify and meet the different needs of men and women. Gender analysis also facilitates the
strategic use of distinct knowledge and skills possessed by women and men.
Gender equality means that women and men have equal conditions for realizing their full human
rights and for contributing to, and benefiting from, economic, social, cultural and political
development. Gender equality is therefore the equal valuing by society of the similarities and the
differences of men and women, and the roles they play. It is based on women and men being full
partners in their home, their community and their society.
Sources: UNESCO Bangkok. 2006. GENIA Toolkit for Promoting Gender Equality in Education. UNESCO. 2007. Education for All Global Monitoring
Report 2008. Education for All by 2015: Will we make it?

last updated Sat Sep 01, 2012