On May 20th, Head of the National Commission on Gender Equality in Education, Dr. Camilla Stoltenberg, presented the Commission report at an information meeting for Permanent Delegations to UNESCO titled «Achieving gender equality in education: focus on male disadvantage«.
The information meeting was co-chaired by Mr. Jordan Naidoo, Director of Division for Education 2030 Support and Coordination, Education Sector, UNESCO Secretariat, and Ms. Grethe Sofie Bratlie, Deputy Permanent Delegate of Norway to UNESCO.
The meeting started with a presentation by Dr. Manos Antoninis, Director of the Global Education Monitoring Report, UNESCO, on the findings in the policy paper «Achieving gender equality in education – Don’t forget the boys«. The policy paper shows that male disadvantage in education is a global phenomenon, with particularly large disparities in boys’ disfavour in Latin America and the Caribbean. But even in regions of the world where there is still a large gender gap in favour of boys in primary and secondary education, women are increasing their relative advantage in tertiary education.
Dr. Camilla Stoltenberg then presented the main findings of the Commission report, focusing on education statistics from Norway and causal factors that may explain why there is a gender gap in boys’ disfavour in many high income and emerging countries. Stoltenberg emphasized that efforts to promote equal opportunities for boys and girls in education do not need to come at the expense of one another.
The PP-presentation of the event is accessible here. A background note that summarizes some of the report’s findings can be found here. With any use of the findings, we appreciate acknowledgement of the sources. An English translation of the report is forthcoming.