Statement by Ms. Kyung-wha Kang Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights at the Side-event organized by the NGO Committee on the Status of Women: “Celebrating Women’s Rights: Higher Education – Pathway to Gender Equality and Decent Work”

8 March 2011

Distinguished participants,
ladies and gentlemen,
friends and colleagues,

On behalf of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, it is a great pleasure and honour for me to participate in this celebration of the International Women’s Day, focusing on “Higher Education – Pathway to Gender Equality and Decent Work”.   My sincere thanks to the President Conchita Poncini and the NGO Committee of the Status of Women for organizing this Roundtable.

Equality and non-discrimination is at the very core of the work of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Throughout our work, we have come to promote education, not only as a right in itself but also as a vital tool in the fight against discrimination.  In this biennium 2010-2011 in particular, education is a key focus of our work against discrimination. I am therefore particularly pleased to be able to elaborate upon the importance of education, and in particular on the centrality of the right to education, including higher education, in achieving women’s empowerment, development and gender equality.

Norms, principles and global commitments

Ladies and gentlemen,

Few human rights have been so clearly codified, recognized and elaborated upon as the right to education, through international human rights instruments at the global and regional levels. In addition to legal obligations, far-reaching commitments have been made by States in the area of gender equality and education in the context of the 1995Beijing Platform of Action and the Millennium Development Goals.
As a first step, the right to education includes the entitlement to access compulsory and free primary education. As we know, women and girls have historically suffered discrimination in the area of education, and continue to do so in many places of the world. However, progress – although slow and insufficient - has been made in narrowing gender gaps in education over the past decade, in particular at the primary level.

The application of the human rights framework to higher education

The strong focus by the international community on equal access to primary education is absolutely necessary as gender disparities in primary education are simply amplified in secondary and higher education. But we must also not  forget or ignore that international human rights law also provides for equal opportunities to continue with further study.

In accordance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 13, 2 (b)  secondary education in its different forms, including technical and vocational education, shall be made generally and equally accessible to all, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education. Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education (Article 13, 2 (c)). Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child reaffirms these principles. Similarly, article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women details a number of measures which should be taken to eliminate discrimination against women in order to ensure to them equal rights with men in the field of education.  In recognition of the fact that women can face multiple forms of discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in Article 6, requires States to take measures to ensure women’s full and equal enjoyment of all rights, enshrined in the Convention, including the right to education.  Article 24 of the Convention recognizes the right to an inclusive education system at all levels including through inclusion in the general primary and secondary education system as well as through access to general tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning without discrimination. The UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education also bans discrimination in education on the basis of sex, referring to all types and levels of education, and includes access to education, the standard and quality of education, and the conditions under which it is given.

Impact of discrimination and inequality in higher education

While the global focus on primary education has yielded progress - this is not the time for complacency.  Girls’ secondary school enrolment has increased at a much slower rate, and the gender gap is widening in some regions.  The largest disparities are found in sub-Saharan Africa, South and West Asia, Central Asia and the Arab States. Within countries, significant inequalities can be found related to language, ethnicity or social status.

According to UNESCO, in 2006 women only constituted one-quarter of the world’s researchers, in countries where the data is available. In many other countries such data is missing or not collected.  In 2003, less than one-third of the countries surveyed reported gender parity among university students enrolled in first-degree courses. When looking at research-intensive fields such as science and engineering, only three out of 47 countries attained gender parity. This trend has only improved marginally during the last decade.

At the same time, in many countries there are proportionally more female second degree graduates than first degree graduates – supporting the hypothesis that women who do reach higher education levels perform well and often better than men. However, gender imbalance with respect to higher education overall results in male predominance at the level of doctorates and PhDs. Only 17 per cent of countries globally have reached gender parity, and the percentage is even less when it comes to science and engineering.  This is a disturbing sign of the continuation of the gender imbalance in the research profession well into the near future.

This has also had an important impact on the direction of research as it leads to the conduct of research being gender-in-sensitive, not taking into account women’s realities, not being based on sex-disaggregated data or analysis, etc.  It is also likely to contribute to areas of particular importance to women, such as maternal health and diseases more prominent among women, receiving far less attention in research, thereby reinforcing existing gender inequality.

The implications are even more serious when we consider that education is not only a right in itself, but is also the surest way to empower individuals so that they can claim and enjoy all of their human rights. Education, and particularly higher education, is a means to pave the way out of poverty and disempowerment, and opens up access for women to participation in society and in political decision-making. Policies developed and decisions made by men alone reflect only part of human experience and potential. And the trends with respect to women’s political and public participation to a large extent mirror those relating to higher education. Women still represent only a small fraction of elected officials in most countries. Only 25 countries have more than 30 per cent female representatives in parliament.  Even fewer women are in leadership positions in politics or occupy executive positions in business, trade unions, universities, local government, the judiciary or the military.   

However, clearly, enrollment of girls in schools or universities is not enough to ensure women’s empowerment and gender equality, although an important prerequisite. An additional challenge is to eliminate the existing disconnect between education, particularly higher education, and the broader human rights context and the sustainable development of society. We know that the discontent of millions of well educated women and men with no related opportunities to political participation, employment and livelihood was one of the triggering factors behind the recent and current developments in the Arab world. But  higher unemployment rates among young women and unjustified salary discrepancies between men and women in the private sector, is of concern worldwide.

Importance of keeping women’s rights in general, and the right to education in particular on the human rights agenda

Distinguished participants, friends and colleagues, 

The fact that the right to education has been clearly codified, recognized and elaborated upon, which as mentioned has resulted in progress in implementation in certain areas, particularly with respect to primary education, is not a coincidence.

It is the result of the dedication of non-governmental organizations such as the NGO Committee on the Status of Women and their advocacy and monitoring activities.  Treaty bodies such as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have made an important contribution to the progress, together with the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education. Also the Security Council, in its resolution 1889 adopted in 2009, underlined the importance to ensure women and girls’ equal access to education in post-conflict situations, given the vital role of education in the promotion of women’s participation in post-conflict decision-making.

In the last few years, the Human Rights Council has demonstrated its commitment to addressing discrimination against women in a systematic manner, in all areas of human rights.  During its annual full-day discussion on women’s human rights in June 2010, it focused specifically on “Empowerment of women through education”. It has also taken on issues which traditionally have not featured prominently on the human rights agenda in the past, such as the human rights dimensions of maternal mortality and morbidity – an area where we know that education plays a key role in reducing the death toll. An important milestone in this regard is the recent establishment by the Council of a Working Group on discrimination against women, in law and in practice. I am sure we are all waiting with the great excitement for the launch of the WG with the appointment of its members at the end of the current session of the Council.

It is essential that women’s rights remain at the centre of human rights implementation, and that equal access to education remains high on the human rights agenda. I am therefore particularly pleased to be present here to commemorate International Women’s Day and am convinced that today’s panellists will inspire us by sharing their ideas and views on how women’s right to higher education can be further strengthened.
 
Thank you.