Education Systems, Higher Education & Gender Equality

Chronic underfunding affects all layers of schooling.
- Low teacher salaries ⇒ difficult to justify hiring additional specialists (e.g., school psychiatrists, guidance counsellors).
- Budget trade-offs become pronounced in public systems.
Guidance counsellors/mental-health staff often perform the jobs that a psychiatrist “should” do, stretching competence and resources.

Core subjects (math, English, communication) are necessary but insufficient.
Proposed additions:
- Mind-set training for leadership, confidence, risk-taking.
- Practical exposure to fund-raising, market research and community engagement while still in high school.
Goal: a graduate who can independently
- Draft a proposal, secure $\text{funding}$ , conduct small-scale research.
- Leverage local or online communities to launch initiatives.

Speaker intends to freelance post-PhD yet still values university because it provides
- Network: access to peers, mentors, future collaborators, venture capital.
- Knowledge structure: scaffolding that clarifies what one knows and where the gaps are.
- Legitimacy: credential that attracts funding and clients.

Primary (basic) education
- Literacy, numeracy, foundational social skills.
- Precondition for later social change participation.
Secondary education (middle & high school)
- Bridges basic learning and either work or higher education.
- In many countries, prepares students directly for blue-collar jobs.
Higher/Tertiary education
- Drives national innovation & personal income.
- Hubs for research, new technology, policy influence.
- Not everyone needs it—depends on career path and personal motivation.

Severe disparities in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia at every tier.
Some nations make middle-school graduates competent for skilled trades; others do not.

University is often marketed as a ladder out of poverty.
Elitism critique: higher education can also reinforce class divisions.
Students should clarify motives:
- Altruism (e.g., “save lives as a doctor”) leads to a different educational approach than purely economic motives.

$\text{1990s} \rightarrow \text{2020s}$ : near-parity in primary and secondary enrolment.
Tertiary: female participation now exceeds male in many regions.

“Attainment and enjoyment of rights & opportunities by all genders across social, economic & political life.”
Intersects with race, class, and power structures.

~ $5{,}000$ schools built $1912{-}1937$ to educate African-American children in the rural South.
Tailored largely to blue-collar preparation due to segregation and limited economic outlets.

Patriarchy = structural power imbalance favoring men.
Can coexist with superficial equality in small homogeneous communities but rarely scales.
Religion, race, colonial legacy, and heterogeneity modulate gender outcomes.

Highest parity: Iceland, Finland, Norway, New Zealand, Rwanda.
- Factors: low colonial imprint, cultural homogeneity, women in leadership.
Lowest parity: Saudi Arabia, Chad, Mali, Iran.
- Contributing factors: Sharia interpretations, political instability, conflict, restricted civil liberties.

Illiteracy in sacred languages (e.g., Arabic for non-Arab Muslims) limits critical engagement with doctrine.
Boko Haram (name ≈ “Western education is forbidden”) underscores ideological resistance to schooling.
Example: Ghanaian Muslim father feared son’s conversion if he continued secular schooling.

Gender Inequality Index (GII)
- Focus: inequalities in reproductive health, empowerment, economic status.
Gender Development Index (GDI)
- Focus: gaps in health, education, and income; compares female vs. male HDI.
Social Institutions & Gender Index (SIGI)
- Focus: discrimination in laws, norms, & practices (e.g., inheritance, violence).
Mnemonic: Inequalities – GII, Gaps – GDI, Discrimination – SIGI.

Economic: wage gaps, occupational segregation.
Violence: domestic abuse, conflict-zone sexual violence (e.g., Tigray Ethiopia).
Early/forced marriage: curtails education & autonomy.
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
- Invasive removal of external genitalia to police sexuality.
- Causes infection, trauma, potential death; lacks medical justification.
Maternal health deficits: preventable mortality, reproductive coercion.
Limited land & credit access: undermines food security & entrepreneurship.
Reminder: women/girls ≈ $4 \text{ billion}$ people—systemic violence affects half the planet.

Inequality is reinforced by selective reading of religion, misuse of culture, and raw power retention.
Education—when critical, inclusive, and accessible—remains the most promising lever for change.

Midterm on Monday.
- 45 min, mixed format (multiple-choice + blended/short-answer).
- Study guide to be circulated over the weekend.
- Review all slides, readings, and concepts above.