What is the Gender Gap in Education?

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in the News?
• Global Gender Gap Report
• Global Gender Gap 2024 Report

Why in the News?

• The World Economic Forum (WEF) report of 2024 on global gender gaps recently ranked India at 129 out of 146 economies, with a decline in the education sector being one of the reasons for India’s rank slipping a couple of places this year.

Global Gender Gap Report

• The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report is an annual publication that evaluates the progress towards gender equality worldwide.
• Established in 2006, this report offers a comprehensive analysis of gender-based disparities across four key areas:
  • Economic Participation and Opportunity,
  • Educational Attainment,
  • Health and Survival, and
  • Political Empowerment.
• Key Components of the Report:
  • Economic Participation and Opportunity:
    • This dimension assesses gender disparities in the workplace, including labor force participation, wage equality for similar work, and the presence of women in high-ranking roles across industries.
  • Educational Attainment:
    • This category measures the gap between men and women in terms of access to education.
    • It evaluates literacy rates and the enrolment levels in primary, secondary, and tertiary education.
  • Health and Survival:
    • This area examines life expectancy and sex ratio at birth to understand the disparities in health outcomes between genders.
  • Political Empowerment:
    • This dimension looks at the representation of women in political decision-making positions, including the proportion of women in parliamentary seats and ministerial roles.
• Methodology:
  • The report uses a scoring system ranging from 0 to 1, where 1 indicates full parity between men and women and 0 indicates absolute disparity.
  • Countries are ranked based on their scores in each of the four categories, and an overall rank is assigned to each country.

Global Gender Gap 2024 Report

• The World Economic Forum 2024 report on global gender gaps highlights significant disparities in education, ranking India 129th out of 146 countries, partly due to a decline in educational attainment indicators.
• This represents a drop from the previous year, where India had a perfect score in educational parity.
• Key Findings and Statistics w.r.t Education Attainment:
  • Enrolment and Literacy Rates:
    • Despite high enrolment rates for women in primary, secondary, and tertiary education, the literacy rate gap between men and women stands at 17.2 percentage points.
    • The latest figures show that girls constitute 48% of the school population, with a slight decline in secondary education but a higher retention rate at the higher secondary level.
  • Higher Education:
    • The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for women in higher education is 28.5%, slightly above the male GER of 28.3%.
    • Female enrolment has increased by 32% since 2014-15.
• Influencing Factors:
  • Infrastructure Development:
    • Building more schools, especially since the mid-90s, has significantly boosted girls' enrolment.
    • However, regional disparities persist, with some states lagging in secondary education infrastructure.
  • Female Teachers:
    • The presence of women teachers positively impacts girls' enrolment.
    • Schools with only male teachers face lower enrolment of girls due to parental concerns.
  • Transportation and Sanitation:
    • Free transport and the provision of cycles have helped increase enrolment.
    • However, inadequate sanitation facilities, particularly for menstruating girls, remain a major barrier.
• Future Challenges:
  • Higher Secondary and College Education:
    • While some states report higher enrolment of girls in higher secondary education, concerns are rising about boys dropping out.
  • STEM Education:
    • Women make up only 42.5% of students in STEM fields, highlighting the need for targeted encouragement.
  • Adult Literacy:
    • The 2011 Census data reveals a significant gender gap in adult literacy, with only 64.63% of women being literate compared to 80.88% of men.
• Recommendations:
  • Improving School Infrastructure:
    • Continued investment in building and maintaining school facilities, especially in rural areas.
  • Increasing Female Teacher Presence:
    • Recruiting and retaining more female teachers to create a comfortable learning environment for girls.
  • Enhanced Sanitation Facilities:
    • Ensuring proper maintenance of washrooms to prevent dropouts among older girls.
  • Focus on Foundational Literacy:
    • Strengthening foundational literacy programs and extending education to rural women to bridge the adult literacy gap.
  • By addressing these challenges, India can make significant strides toward closing the gender gap in education and achieving greater gender parity in the coming years.

Q1. When was the Right to Education Act enacted?

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE), is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted on 4 August 2009, which describes the modalities of the importance of free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India under Article 21a of the Indian Constitution

Q2. Who is considered ‘Literate’ in India?

In census, a person aged seven years and above who can both read and write in any language, is treated as 'literate'.

Source: What is the gender gap in education? | Explained