ICPD

Summary of the ICPD Programme of Action

ICPD: Empowering and Educating Girls and Women

The Problem

“Education is one of the most important means of empowering women with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to participate fully in the development process. But despite notable efforts by countries around the globe that have appreciably expanded access to basic education, there are approximately 960 million illiterate adults in the world, of whom two thirds are women. More than one third of the world's adults, most of them women, have no access to printed knowledge, to new skills or to technologies that would improve the quality of their lives and help them shape and adapt to social and economic change. There are 130 million children who are not enrolled in primary school and 70 per cent of them are girls.”

The Promise

By 2015, countries should act to empower women and should take steps to eliminate inequalities by “promoting the fulfilment of women's potential through education, skill development and employment, giving paramount importance to the elimination of poverty, illiteracy and ill health among women [and girls].”

“Governments, in particular of developing countries, with the assistance of the international community should… reduce the rate of illiteracy of women and men, at least halving it among women and girls by 2005, compared with the rate in 1990”.

UNFPA's Strategic Approach

Through core programmes and special projects, such as the United Nations Foundation-supported global project, Meeting the Development and Participation Needs of Adolescent Girls, UNFPA is implementing a comprehensive multisectoral initiative to empower and educate adolescent girls and young women. It consists of the following fundamental building blocks:

• Providing life skills and counselling so that adolescent girls are aware of their rights and know about available services.
• Developing vocational training and income-generating programmes for adolescent girls and young women to increase their status, independence and opportunities.
• Mobilizing support of decision makers at all levels to support programmes aimed at keeping girls in school longer and improving adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
• Contributing to equitable and sustainable development by reinforcing the capacity of national governments to engage girls in the social, economic and political life of the country.

How Are We Doing?

Literacy rates continue to increase every year, but there remains a significant gap between men and women. Of the 960 million illiterate adults in the world, close to two thirds are women.

Still, the average ratio of literate females to males increased over the course of the 1990s, from 89 in 1990 to 0.91 in 2001; in the least-developed countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America that ratio was more pronounced, increasing nearly 10 points from 0.72 to 0.81.

Though primary school enrolment for both girls and boys continues to rise, and is near parity in many developing countries—except in sub-Saharan Africa—the gender gap persists in secondary education. In many poor countries for which data are available, especially in Africa, the gap between boys and girls' enrolment is almost 10 per cent or more.

Unfortunately, high illiteracy rates persist throughout the least-developed countries of Africa and Asia. Nearly twice as many women over age 15 are illiterate compared to men; in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance 27 per cent of men are illiterate compared to 50 per cent of women.

The ICPD calls for the elimination of gender bias in education and skills development, but there is a long way to go in most of the developing world. Keeping girls in school long enough for them to become literate and develop skills remains one of the main challenges for most developing countries.

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