Press Release 4/2006: International Women’s Day, 8 March - EI will focus on empowering women worldwide

Education International (EI) is marking International Women’s Day with a demand that governments do more to implement the 3rd UN Millennium Development Goal focusing on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The realisation of Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women will require fundamental changes and political will in the distribution of resources, equal opportunities and power; starting with adequate resources to ensure a public quality education for all, women and men. Education is fundamental because education is a process of empowerment in itself - research shows that increased education is associated with the empowerment of women. Yet education alone does not guarantee women’s empowerment. The positive impact of education on the status of women is highly dependent on its context. Factors including the level of economic development, characteristics of the labour market, and degree of gender stratification all hav! e a negative impact on the situation of even highly educated women. EI will support the implementation of the 7 UN strategic priorities which national governments (education authorities included) could use as a framework for action on Goal 3 - Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women: 1. Strengthen opportunities for post-primary education for girls while meeting commitments to universal primary education 2. Guarantee sexual and reproductive health and rights 3. Invest in infrastructure to reduce women’s and girls’ time burden 4. Guarantee women’s and girls’ property and inheritance rights 5. Eliminate gender inequality in employment by decreasing women’s reliance on informal employment, closing gender gaps in earnings, and reducing occupational segregation 6. Increase women’s share of seats in national parliaments and local government bodies 7. Combat violence against girls and women