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Empowering Women MENA.Qxp POPULATION REFERENCE BUREAU EMPOWERING WOMEN, DEVELOPING SOCIETY: Female Education in the Middle East and North Africa by Farzaneh Roudi-Fahimi and Valentine M. Moghadam ducation is a key part of strategies to F igure 1 improve individuals’ well-being and soci- Literacy Rates Among Young Women in eties’ economic and social development. Selected Countries, 1970–2000 E * In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), access to education has improved dramatically Percent of women 15 to 24 years old who are literate 100 over the past few decades, and there have been Oman a number of encouraging trends in girls’ and Iran Algeria women’s education (see Figure 1). Primary school 80 enrollment is high or universal in most MENA Egypt countries, and gender gaps in secondary school 60 enrollment have already disappeared in several Morocco countries. Women in MENA countries are also more likely to enroll in universities than they 40 were in the past. But great challenges remain. Many people— 20 especially girls—are still excluded from education, and many more are enrolled in school but learn- 0 ing too little to prepare them for 21st-century 1970 1980 1990 2000 job markets. In some countries, access to the sec- SOURCE: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural ondary and higher education that helps create a Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics, “Literacy Statistics” skilled and knowledgeable labor force continues (www.uis.unesco.org, accessed March 11, 2003). to be limited; even where access is not a problem, the quality of the education provided is often low. “The most worrying aspect of the crisis in educa- The Fourth World Conference on Women, held in tion is education’s inability to provide the require- Beijing in 1995, recognized that women’s literacy ments for the development of Arab societies,” is key to empowering women’s participation in according to the 2002 Arab Human Development decisionmaking in society and to improving fami- Report.1 lies’ well-being.3 In addition, the United Nations This policy brief offers an overview of educa- has articulated the Millennium Development tion’s benefits to women, families, economies, and Goals (MDGs), which include goals for improved societies and highlights the ongoing concerns about education, gender equality, and women’s empower- education in MENA countries. It also looks at edu- ment (see Box 1, page 2). The MDGs emphasize cation’s links with fertility and employment, two education’s essential role in building democratic important elements in women’s empowerment. societies and creating a foundation for sustained economic growth.4 Education: A Social Right and a Education contributes directly to the growth Development Imperative of national income by improving the productive Education’s importance has been emphasized by a capacities of the labor force. A recent study of 19 number of international conventions, including the developing countries, including Egypt, Jordan, and Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Tunisia, concluded that a country’s long-term eco- Programme of Action of the 1994 International nomic growth increases by 3.7 percent for every Conference on Population and Development.2 year the adult population’s average level of school- * Countries and territories included in the Middle East and North Africa as defined here are listed in Table 1 (page 4). In addition, the benefits of female education Box 1 for women’s empowerment and gender equality The Millennium Development Goals and Female Education are broadly recognized: The U.N. Millennium Summit, held in September 2000, produced a set of ■ As female education rises, fertility, population eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) covering a range of develop- growth, and infant and child mortality fall and ment issues, including reducing child mortality, fighting various infectious family health improves. diseases, eradicating illiteracy, and empowering women. The MDGs and ■ Increases in girls’ secondary school enrollment their associated targets and indicators were designed as benchmarks for are associated with increases in women’s participa- monitoring progress in developing countries and to provide a framework for tion in the labor force and their contributions to sustaining development and eliminating poverty. The international commu- household and national income. nity recognizes that unless girls’ education improves, few of the MDGs will ■ Women’s increased earning capacity, in turn, has be achieved. Two of the goals deal specifically with female education and 8 women’s empowerment. a positive effect on child nutrition. ■ ■ Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education. Target: Ensure that, by Children—especially daughters—of educated 2015, all children, boys and girls alike, will have access to a full course of mothers are more likely to be enrolled in school primary education. Indicators for this goal: the net enrollment ratio in pri- and to have higher levels of educational attainment. ■ mary education; the proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach grade 5; Educated women are more politically active and and the literacy rate of 15-to-24-year-olds. better informed about their legal rights and how ■ Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women. Target: Eliminate to exercise them. gender disparities in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and at all levels of education no later than 2015. Indicators for this goal: the Cultural and Economic Factors That ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary, and tertiary education; the ratio Reinforce the Gender Gap of literate females to males among 15-to-24-year-olds; the share of women in MENA countries generally have lower levels of wage employment in the nonagricultural sector; and the proportion of seats women’s education and labor force participation in national parliament held by women. than other regions with similar income levels. The SOURCE: United Nations, “About the Goals” (www.developmentgoals.org/About_the_goals.htm, interaction between the region’s economic structure accessed April 1, 2003). and its conservative culture, in which traditional gender roles are strongly enforced, is largely respon- sible.9 Men in the MENA region are more likely to have direct access to wage employment and control ing rises.5 Thus, education is a key strategy for over wealth, while women are largely economically reducing poverty, especially in the MENA region, dependent upon male family members. where poverty is not as deep as in other developing The region’s oil-based economy, which pro- regions.6 According to the United Nations Popu- duced tremendous wealth in some MENA coun- lation Fund, countries that have made social tries, reinforces the region’s gender roles. In a investments in health, family planning, and educa- number of MENA countries, the use of capital- tion have slower population growth and faster eco- intensive technologies that require few workers, nomic growth than countries that have not made along with relatively high wages for men, have such investments.7 precluded women’s greater involvement in the In the increasingly open global economy, labor force.10 Women’s employment options have countries with high rates of illiteracy and gender been limited to a small number of socially accept- gaps in educational attainment tend to be less able occupations and professions, such as teaching competitive, because foreign investors seek labor and medicine. In the Gulf states, jobs not consid- that is skilled as well as inexpensive. Various ered appropriate for MENA women, such as global trends pose special challenges to women waitressing, are often filled by imported female who are illiterate or have limited education. laborers from South and East Asia. Economies’ export orientation and the growing Gender discrimination in the MENA region importance of small and medium-sized enterpris- is sometimes codified in law, frequently in family es create opportunities for women, but women laws or civil codes. In many countries in the need the appropriate education and training to region, women must obtain permission from a take full advantage of these opportunities. male relative, usually a husband or father, before 2 PRB MENA Policy Brief 2003 seeking employment, requesting a loan, starting a business, or traveling. Such laws often grant F igure 2 women a smaller share of inherited family wealth. Contraceptive Use and Fertility in Morocco, by Women’s As a result, families tend to make greater invest- Education, 1995 ments in education for boys than for girls. Percent of married women Women’s The results of Egypt’s 2000 Demographic and using contraceptiveseducation Births per woman Health Survey (DHS) provide insights into fami- 66 Secondary 1.9 or higher lies’ preferences for investing in their children’s education. Women with children ages 6 to 15 63 Primary 2.4 were asked, “If parents have one son and one daughter and can send only one child to the uni- 44 No education 4.0 versity, which child should they send?” While 53 percent of the women said that the decision SOURCE: ORC Macro, Morocco DHS, 1995. should depend on the children’s capabilities, 39 percent said that the son should go to the univer- sity, compared with only 8 percent who said that F igure 3 the daughter should go. The survey also found Child Mortality Rate in Egypt, by Mother’s Level of that mothers of children who had never attended Education school were more likely to cite the cost of educa- tion as a reason for not educating their daughters Deaths of children under age 5 per 1,000 live births than for not educating their sons.11 89 77 However, the situation in the region is slowly changing. Women activists, who generally come 55 from the educated segments of society, are chal- lenging the status quo; demanding equality in the 38 family and society; and calling for women’s eco- nomic, political, and social empowerment. The trend’s intensity varies by country but is visible even in relatively conservative nations.
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