A major new initiative to boost women’s education worldwide was launched at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The Global Partnership for Girls’ and Women’s Education will aim to increase educational opportunities for women across the globe, but particularly in areas where the majority of women do not receive adequate education.
Speakers at the conference used statistics to illustrate the inequality of educational opportunity for women. They noted:
Ӣ Nearly 40 million young girls worldwide have received no schooling;
Ӣ About two thirds of all illiterate adults are women; and
”¢ Only one third of the world’s nations have achieved gender parity in secondary education.
In her keynote address to the delegates, Sheikh Hasina, prime minister of Bangladesh stated, “If you educate a boy, you educate one boy, whereas if you educate a girl, you educate her entire family and community.”