Female education refers to the organized provision of learning opportunities for girls and women across all levels of formal, non-formal, and lifelong education, including access, participation, progression, and completion under equitable conditions [1][2][3][4]. It encompasses policies and practices aimed at ensuring that female learners can enroll, attend, and achieve in education without barriers related to gender norms, discrimination, safety, economic constraints, or unequal household and social expectations [1][2]. Female education is characterized by attention to gender-specific constraints and supports, such as safe schooling environments, retention measures, transitions between levels, and equal access to curriculum pathways and credentials [2][3][4]. In research and policy, the term denotes both the educational status of female populations and the institutional arrangements designed to secure their equal educational rights and opportunities [1][2][3][4].
- female education
- girls’ education
- gender equity in education
- women’s educational attainment
Gender, Education, and Development Issues • Education • Social Sciences • Social Sciences
References
- UNESCO. Global Education Monitoring Report 2020: Inclusion and Education—All Means All; UNESCO: Paris, 2020. Available online: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373718.
- UNESCO. Global Education Monitoring Report 2023: Gender Report—Technology on Her Terms; UNESCO: Paris, 2023. Available online: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000387421.
- Stephan Klasen; Low Schooling for Girls, Slower Growth for All? Cross-Country Evidence on the Effect of Gender Inequality in Education on Economic Development. World Bank Econ. Rev. 2002, 16, 345-373. [CrossRef]
- United Nations. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); UN General Assembly: New York, 1979; Art. 10. Available online: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-elimination-all-forms-discrimination-against-women.