The United Nations recognises education as a human right and a tool for achieving gender equality. Not only from the perspective of enhancing the equality of opportunity but also enhancing the equality of relationships between women and men.

Its entities in this field, charged with monitoring, researching and advising governmental and non-governmental bodies, include the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, (UNRISD) the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The basis for its policy on education and in particular equality of education, lies in the outcomes of the Beijing conference of 1995 and Beijing + 5 in 2000. Its policy also is developed by its own research, which is not only statistical, but is also based on the analysis of its experts. It also has its basis in CEDAW (1979) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990)

The current umbrella policy in education is rooted in the report Education For All. The outcomes are whereby the international community is committed to eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary schooling by 2005, and aim to achieve gender equality by 2015.

It recognises that achieving gender equality through education is a complex task that includes eliminating child labour and promoting social gender awareness in access to education. It also recognises that apart from equality of opportunity in the school curriculum, there must be, on leaving education equality of opportunity in the post secondary education field whether it be at tertiary level or employment.

The report cites population growth as a determining factor in the developing countries as to whether girls achieved the same rates of schooling than boys. In some areas, where there has been such a population growth, progress was hampered, as girls were required by their families to remain at home to assist in the upbringing of newly born siblings. Other factors include armed conflict. On a positive note, parity in educational achievement has been seen in some countries to the extent that female pupils have obtained higher school examination grades than their male counterparts, reversing the need to encourage female educational participation to this time, that of male students.

The latter development has mostly been identified in countries such as the United Kingdom where research is being conducted to find the root causes of gender inequality. One reason given is the lack of male role models in the form of male teachers, another is the co-educational system that does not take into account gender differences in the pace of child development.

The difficulties faced by the UN include such problems as that while social and economic obstacles to female participation hamper the entities charged with reducing inequality in the poorest regions of the world, policy cannot be blanketly applied as the obstacles differ regionally as to the full and equal participation of both genders.

Analysis provided by: Soraya Pascoe, Legal Expert on Gender.