Remarks by the President of the General Assembly,
Mr. Dennis Francis,
at the CSW Side Event, “Closing the gender gap in education: How to address long-term barriers and emerging challenges in a world of complex crises?”
12 March 2024
[As Delivered]
Your Excellency, Ms. Karin Larissa HERRERA AGUILAR, Vice-President of Guatemala,
Your Excellency Bineta Diop, African Union Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security,
Executive Director of UN-Women, Ms. Sima Bahous,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for joining this special event on Closing the gender gap in education.
I wish to thank my esteemed colleague, Ms. Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN-Women and a tireless champion for the rights and empowerment of women and girls – for co-hosting today’s event.
We can all agree, education is a transformative lever towards gender equality and poverty eradication.
In fact, education is a formidable force for empowerment.
As the African proverb goes:
“If you educate a man, you educate an individual. But if you educate a woman, you educate a nation.”
While we can all agree that education is a fundamental human right, we are sadly far from where we should be in terms of equal and universal access.
The numbers speak for themselves:
- Women still account for almost two-thirds of the 750 million adults unable to read.
- Current trends indicate that we will not get every girl into primary school until the year 2050.
- And it is the poorest girls in low-income countries who have the lowest education completion rate.
- Girls in conflict and humanitarian situations are nearly 2.5 times more likely to be out of school.
- And for the 35 million children around the world who have been forcibly displaced, nearly half are out of school.
Excellencies,
These undesirable trends are playing out in real-time, across the world.
Right now, in Haiti – where during my visit in November last year, I was able to meet with young school children – the fright of gang violence and civil unrest is limiting access to education to only those in ‘safe zones’.
In Gaza, none – I repeat, none – of the 600,000 school-age children can go to school due to well-documented and widespread devastation.
In the Sudan, an estimated 19 million children are out of school due to increased violence and insecurity.
in Afghanistan, girls are outright banned from school beyond the sixth grade.
And in Ukraine, students are amid the third year of disruption to education.
Dear Colleagues,
These numbers are not just shocking, to say the least.
The devastating impact on lives is both consequential and morally unacceptable.
And the broader societal implications are vast and long-lasting.
We are collectively denying ourselves better economies and stronger social systems due to our short-sighted unwillingness to empower half of our, just as talented, and sometimes more talented and able population.
And this is not confined to conflict zones or to the least developed countries.
For those girls who are fortunate enough to receive an education, gender stereotypes and archaic practices often limit their participation in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.
Yet, these are the very disciplines where we can all agree that MORE innovators are needed – not less.
We see that unequal access to education – coupled with systems built against, not in favor of, women’s empowerment – are limitations that haunt women and girls long into their careers.
Across all regions, women are paid far less than men – with the gender pay-gap estimated at around 20 per cent globally.
And women tend to be overrepresented in certain types of work that are perceived as unskilled or low value, such as care jobs.
Dear Friends,
There is simply no excuse, in 2024, for this to be the case.
The African proverb says it clearly, investing in women and girls’ education transforms societies.
Education is an SDG accelerator that has the potential to jumpstart action on every one of the goals.
But this progress starts, arguably, with equal and equitable access to quality education.
This requires lifting all barriers – real and perceived, visible, and invisible.
It means ensuring safety and facilitating access.
It means putting in place appropriate hygienic and sanitation services.
It means closing the digital divide and leveraging the power of innovative technologies to enhance women and girls’ skills and learning.
And – perhaps most important of all – it means changing the hearts and minds of the women and girls, men and boys, who form the communities around them.
This is all the more important if we want to end harmful stereotypes that are holding back women and girls in science, technology, engineering and math – so called STEM.
Imagine the benefits of MORE astronauts, more cancer researchers, more nuclear physicists, and economists.
The untapped potential is a goldmine of intellectual capacity waiting for us to wake up.
Let us wait no more —society simply cannot afford to.
Excellencies, Dear Friends,
It has been an honor to co-host and to be part of the opening of today’s discussion, and I eagerly look forward to hearing from you and our esteemed invited guests and speakers.
Before we offer you the floor, I am pleased to invite my co-host, Ms. Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN-Women, to give additional opening remarks.
