Girls' education

The proposed summary report on girls' education by John Knodel and Gavin Jones takes a position opposed to any special emphasis on increasing educational opportunities for girls. The authors appear to regard educational inequalities by class and income as much more consequential than inequalities by sex: writing in their initial paragraph that, based on certain studies, "the strongest disparities in educational attainment are found between groups of different socioeconomic level" (Knodel and Jones, n.d.). At the end of their executive summary they suggest that "documenting inequality by sex is easier than documenting inequality by socioeconomic background," and go on to imply that a focus on gender inequalities is in effect an easy way out, avoiding the greater difficulties of measuring socioeconomic inequalities.

This draft summary report, however, is gravely flawed. It is shot through with inconsistancies, unsupported conclusions, and perhaps most gravely, with what appear to be hidden assumptions regarding the roles of women in society. On two separate occasions in the draft, the authors appear to regard women's educational levels as significant primarily, if not almost solely, for its effect on fertility and childraising. That women might have important roles to play that are unrelated to motherhood, and that girls' education might be important in preparing them for such other roles, seems to be dismissed without consideration.

The draft summary report suffers in

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p in South Asia and the Arab states. (Sub-saharan Africa and other regions are not discussed.) Of South Asia and the Arab states, the authors call attention to the gender enrollment gap's "deleterious effect on infant and child health and fertility," and call attention to the importance of this gap on "strategies for population stabilization and human development" (Knodel and Jones, n.d.). There is, in fact, significant evidence that improved education makes women better prepared to raise children under modern conditions (e.g., Le Vine, 1982). However, save for the very general mention of human development, Knodel and Jones's focus seems entirely on women in their procreative and child-rearing roles. They go on to note that women's roles in these regions are constrained by social and religious traditions, and suggest that education for girls has to be "tackled in step with" other improvements in women's status (Knodel and Jones, n.d.). This assessment is doubtless accurate, but the authors have missed an opportunity to consider the role of education as a driving force in improving women's social conditions. A strong case could be made that improvements in education for girls has, worldwide, been a driving force behind t

Category: Psychology - G