“The gap between legal recognition and effective realisation of girls’ and women’s right to education remains critical” – notes the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. [1] In view of this, on 27 November 2017, CEDAW published its General Recommendation No. 36 on the right of girls and women to education, based on Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in conjunction with its other articles and the Committee’s existing jurisprudence under the Convention. [2] This work provides guidance to States on measures to promote education in the spirit of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The Committee has organised General Recommendation No. 36 in accordance with an approach based on the analytical framework of obligations related to the right to education previously presented by the Special Rapporteur on education, Katarina Tomasevski. [3] The Special Rapporteur in this regard has identified 4 interrelated and important aspects of States’ educational obligations: availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability. Availability obliges States to ensure that primary schools are available; accessibility refers to access to educational facilities on a non-discriminatory basis. [4] The aspect of acceptability requires States to provide that all schools, in particular school programmes and teaching methods, meet minimum standards set by the State itself. [5] Adaptability prescribes that the educational regime should have flexibility to the extent of always being in a state of readiness to adapt the educational system to the requirements and needs of students and the whole society. [6] CEDAW modified Katarina Tomasevski’s four-pillar approach and chose a threefold framework, defining it as follows: the right of access to education; rights within education; and rights acquired through education. [7]

The right of access to education includes the elimination of all aspects that serve as a barrier to participation in the education system at all levels for all women and girls, particularly those in more vulnerable positions. In this regard, for instance, CEDAW has directed government efforts to ensure the physical accessibility of learning, emphasising the fundamental role of consideration of associated factors, both of a general nature and those related specifically to women’s needs. The Committee also highlighted the necessity to promote the use of information and communication technologies, which according to CEDAW constitutes an alternative to physical access to educational facilities. [8] Economic barriers were recognised as another major obstacle to access to education. In addition, General Recommendation No 36 highlighted the severity of access to education for students in a context of military conflicts and natural disasters. [9] Also in this Recommendation, the Committee draws the attention of CEDAW States parties to the increased difficulty of access to education for girls and women from vulnerable groups. CEDAW has identified the following groups: students with disabilities, indigenous and minority students, refugee and asylum-seeking students, migrants, stateless and undocumented students, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex students. [10] It is worth noting that the Committee should also give due consideration in its recommendations to promoting access to education for women prisoners, in view of the key role of education in the re-formation of individuals, as well as the role of education in enabling women to exercise their right to decent work after serving their sentence.

Rights within the education sector are related to promoting the flourishing of gender equality in the education system, in particular the proclamation of equality of treatment and opportunity. The Committee advocates that this approach should permeate the entire learning process, including teaching methods, curricula and learning environments. [11] Among the main challenges in this area, CEDAW identified the existence of gender prejudices, violence, including sexual violence, and the growing problem of Internet bullying.  States Parties to the Bill of Rights for Women were required to reform the education system in the spirit of gender equality, in particular by removing stratification of schools and knowledge [12], and to eliminate all obstacles to the full realisation by girls and women of their rights in education.

In recognising the rights acquired through education, CEDAW stressed the interrelatedness of all the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Convention: measures to eliminate discrimination against women must be comprehensive. Due to this fundamental connection, only the proclamation of the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women will guarantee the effective promotion of women’s rights and freedoms. In this sense, increasing women’s access to education becomes a major contribution, that could still be eroded by barriers to the realisation of women’s other rights and freedoms, including the right to decent work. The Committee has noted that, globally, the percentage of women with advanced education is much higher than that of men, suggesting that women “represent a source of human capital with a higher level of qualifications”. [13] However, it is equally true that even if men have lower occupational qualifications than women, most of them occupy more favourable jobs and earn higher wages. [14] In other words, even if the educational achievement is at the same level, it does not have the same socio-economic value for both genders. In this context, the Committee has called upon States parties to take the necessary measures to promote women’s participation at all levels of decision-making, including social, economic and political levels, in order to increase their influence on policies that directly play a vital role in shaping women’s living conditions. [15]

CEDAW has thus outlined the fundamental elements of girls’ and women’s right to education, setting out a triad of human rights frameworks, and identified a number of recommendations to ensure girls’ and women’s right to access to education, rights in education and rights acquired through education. In examining and analysing these recommendations of the Committee, it has become possible to define a comprehensive, non-exhaustive analytical framework for measures to strengthen the implementation mechanism in the field of education in the spirit of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. This framework can be reflected as follows: 

a) Measures aimed at monitoring, developing educational strategies and programmes:

1. Programme and strategy development:

Of general nature

• Develop curricula, teaching methods and learning materials free of gender stereotypes and discrimination.
• Develop effective school programmes that focus on gender issues and promote students’ awareness of and commitment to gender equality, and design moral civic education programmes.
• Develop effective reintegration strategies to ensure that pregnant adolescents, young mothers and married minors remain in the education system are re-enrolled into the education system in a time-efficient and appropriate manner. 
• Develop gender-sensitive adult literacy promotion strategies, in particular functional literacy programmes.
• Develop programs for introducing training in using information and communication technology.
• Develop information and communications technology strategies with specific targets to ensure gender equality in access to information and communications technology in schools and higher education institutions.
• Develop education strategies that address the specific needs of girls and women who are among the most vulnerable groups, in particular those of persons with disabilities, low-income families and girls and women living in rural areas.
• Develop strategies for effective social protection in educational institutions, including in the areas of school nutrition and the supply of sanitary materials.
• Develop strategies to facilitate access to learning that could be hindered by compulsory and specific dress codes and definitive clothing prohibitions, in particular for students from ethnic minority groups and migrants.
• Develop strategies and educational training programmes, in direct consultation with women, to apply practical knowledge to address women’s barriers in the workplace, including in the area of education. 
• Develop strategies for achieving equal representation of women in decision-making positions, in particular in the field of education and among professors in higher education, rectors and vice-rectors.
• Design and develop technology resources aimed at identifying and preventing Internet bullying.
• Develop codes of conduct for students and for teaching personnel at all levels of education.
• Develop programmes aimed at the elimination of ideological and structural barriers in co-educational schools, including through the creation of a timetable that does not restrict co-education.
• Develop strategies to quantitatively balance the participation of women and girls in non-traditional subjects at all levels of education.
• Develop legal education and training programmes for persons involved in the administration of justice, with training on the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
• Develop effective strategies to address violence against girls and women in educational institutions and on the way to them, including addressing all forms of physical and emotional violence. The preparation of strategies in this area should include the identification of guidelines for teachers and students on how to respond to and prevent all forms of violence against girls and women.

Reproductive health and its protection

• Develop and integrate into the education system the teaching programmes that provide comprehensive and accurate information on sexual and reproductive health and rights, promoting sexual education and responsible sexual behaviour.
• Develop practical and effective systems to enable students to report, including anonymously, incidents of violence, including but not limited to sexual harassment, emotional abuse, and Internet bullying, without fear of threat or judgement from others.

In undertaking the above measures, it is necessary to:

• Promote and ensure women’s full participation in the development of educational strategies and programmes, especially for women belonging to particularly vulnerable groups.
• The development of strategies and programmes should be based on information obtained through monitoring of women’s and girls’ right to education, in particular to address the obstacles identified.

2. Monitoring and analysis:

• Monitor and supervise the realisation by girls and women of their right to education, in particular the right of access (physical, economic, technical) to education at all levels.

In undertaking the above measure, it is necessary to:

• Disaggregate data collection by age, place of residence, type of school, ethnicity, religious affiliation, belonging to a linguistic minority or to other particularly vulnerable group.
• The non-exhaustive scope of data collection should include the following factors:

i. age-adjusted enrolment ratios for both sexes at each level of education, as well as the ratio of completed levels of education for both sexes; 
ii. attendance and drop-out rates at all levels, especially in school, and the number of students repeating within the same grade of education;
iii. average progression rate to the next level and stage of education; 
iv. the number of male and female teachers at all levels of education;
v. the percentage of female and male literacy in different age groups.

• Monitoring should aim, inter alia, to identify and analyse obstacles to girls’ and women’s enjoyment of their right to education, including legal, political-ideological, physical, social, cultural, economical, psychological, communicative and linguistic barriers in educational institutions and in society.
• Conduct research on the impact of armed conflict on women’s and girls’ access to education for its further consideration in education policy.

(b) Measures aimed at educating and building dialogue with the public, including learners:

Of general nature

• Organise at all levels of education awareness-raising campaigns on women’s human rights, in particular the right to education, as well as on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
• Launch information campaigns in all educational and social institutions on re-enrolment in education, including re-enrolment of pregnant adolescents, young mothers and married minor females.
• Conduct awareness-raising campaigns for public, in particular in collaboration with religious and community leaders, on the importance of girls’ education and necessity of elimination of traditions, customs, and stereotypes that serve as barriers to girls’ and women’s education at all levels of education.
• Raise public awareness of the difficulties caused by gender stereotypes that prevent women from participating effectively in physical education programmes and in traditionally male-dominated sports.
• Organise campaigns to address gender prejudices that prevent women from participating fully in the social, political and economic spheres of life. This includes educating the public about the perniciousness of a system of male patronage in the labour market that allows men to occupy higher positions on the basis of gender rather than merit. 
• Raise awareness among educators, students, and parents about forms of Internet bullying and their negative impact on women and girls, as well as about protection measures. 

Reproductive health and its protection

• Educate girls and women in an age-appropriate manner about their full reproductive and sexual health rights and freedoms, the importance of responsible sexual behaviour, including with regard to the prevention of early pregnancy and the protection from and treatment of sexually transmitted infections. 
• Inform girls and women about programmes, laws, and protection measures against violence, such as emotional and physical violence, including sexual violence, in and out of educational institutions. 
• Launch public education campaigns to raise awareness of the physical and psychological dangers of female genital mutilation.

(c) Measures aimed at providing appropriately qualified teaching personnel:

Training of personnel related to the educational process:

• Provide teachers at all levels of education with trainings on gender issues and equip them with non-discriminatory teaching methods. 
• Instruct teachers at all levels of education on the use of information and communication technologies in the framework of open education.
• Train teachers in skills and techniques for working with students with special needs, including with disabilities of various forms.
• Provide teachers with constructive teaching methods that develop girls’ and women’s critical thinking skills, as well as self-esteem, promoting girls’ and women’s aspirations to realise their right to decent work independently of traditional stereotypes. 
• Train teaching professionals in methods to promote career guidance for students and their parents in a gender-equitable manner and outside entrenched perceptions of traditionally feminine or masculine professions and fields of study.
• Train education professionals to effectively provide scientific and age-appropriate information on reproductive and sexual health, in particular on female genital mutilation, taking into account the importance of creating an open discussion that prevents girls from experiencing fear, shame, or isolation. 
• Train professionals involved in the education sector to respond effectively to any signals of violence, as well as training on how to address violence, including sexual violence, against women and girls.

In undertaking the above measures, consideration should be given to:

– Necessity:

• The pre-employment security checks of criminal records for all personnel in the education sector.
• Professional training for both potential and current teachers.
• The training and recruitment of teaching personnel should take into account the importance of providing a favourable educational environment that contributes to making educational institutions safer and more rewarding places for students, in particular girls and women.
• With a numerical preponderance of male teachers, more female teachers need to be trained and recruited into the academic workforce.
• Ensure that administrations of private and public educational institutions are not only informed but also realise a non-discriminatory gender policy.

– Opportunity:

• Take temporary special measures to increase the number of qualified teachers as well as the number of women teachers. 
• Take temporary special measures to engage and train qualified teachers for working with students with special needs at all levels of education.

(d) Measures to ensure that educational premises are adequately equipped and have acceptable ways of reaching them:

1. Measures aimed at properly equipping the premises of educational institutions:

• Provide all educational institutions with quality sanitation facilities suitable for adequate personal hygiene for girls and boys in separate spaces; and guarantee access to safe drinking water.
• Ensure that all educational facilities are adapted to the special needs of persons with disabilities.
• Achieve that all educational buildings comply with effective building codes, including those suitable for resilience during natural disasters.
• Conduct regular maintenance inspections of educational premises, giving priority to the reconstruction of damage caused by armed conflicts and natural disasters.

2. Measures aimed at providing acceptable opportunities to reach the premises of educational institutions:

• Ensure that educational facilities are located within accessibility and at an adequate physical distance from students’ homes.
• Provide safe transport and accommodation for learners when the distance between home and educational institution is excessively remote.
• Ensure safety on the way to the learning centres, particularly in transport and at vehicle stops.

e) Legislative and law enforcement measures:

1. Legislative measures:

• Adopt legislative measures, including, where necessary, constitutional amendments to guarantee women’s right to education. These provisions should also provide a legal basis for girls and women to defend their right to education in the courts.
• To enshrine in law the provision of compulsory and free education at primary and secondary levels of education.
• Eliminate all legal provisions that directly or indirectly discriminate girls and women in education.
• Ensure by law that access to education for pregnant adolescents is not denied by excluding them from school; and guarantee that, after childbirth, young mothers are admitted to the education system without restriction.
• Impose by law a mandatory minimum age of 18 years for marriage with or without parental consent.
• Establish by law a minimum age for employment in line with the minimum school leaving age in order to eliminate child labour.
• Establish a legal and practical prohibition for military associations to use and occupy educational facilities and to conduct military operations on the territory of educational centres, in particular schools.
• Adopt effective legal measures to ensure that girls and women are protected from sexual harassment and violence in educational institutions, in particular when participating in traditionally male-dominated sports.
• Adopt legislative provisions defining and codifying as criminal offences harassment, including of women and girls, by means of information and communication technologies, taking into account, inter alia, the Internet. 
• Establish an effective legislative system to ensure that girls and women who have experienced violence in educational institutions have effective and fair access to justice and legal remedies. 

2. Law enforcement measures:

• Respond to all reports of violence against girls and women and effectively investigate cases of violence, ensure that guilty parties are punished, and take all necessary measures to protect students and female teachers from all types of violence, both in and on the way to educational institutions and in the accommodation and transport provided.
• Undertake law enforcement action to protect girls excluded from school due to pregnancy or early marriage. 
• Take effective measures to protect the right to education of girls and women excluded from education due to their belonging to the most vulnerable groups, including migrant groups, stateless persons, refugees, persons with disabilities, the LGBT+ community, ethnic minority, religious minorities and linguistic minorities and other marginalised groups.
• Ensure effective protection of women’s right to decent work.
• Take effective law enforcement measures to prevent and deter military attacks on educational institutions. Investigate and prosecute those responsible for attacks on educational institutions.

f) Implementing policies to reform the education system, including financial policies:

1. Policy on the adoption of general measures:

• Aim to ensure universal, free and compulsory access to primary and secondary education regardless of socio-economic status and irrespective of migrant, refugee and stateless status.
• Define policies to address the obstacles identified by monitoring activities to women’s and girls’ realisation of their right to education to the extent proclaimed by CEDAW.
• Implement educational reform that guarantees equality of educational resources in all educational institutions.
• Adopt a policy of no-tolerance of discrimination against women and girls at all levels of education, especially for girls and women belonging to vulnerable groups.
• Provide equal educational opportunities in access to technological tools for disadvantaged girls and women, those living in rural areas, women with low literacy levels and older women, including through skills training in the use of technological tools.
• Make a concerted effort to ensure that, through education and training, women can actively participate in all areas of political, civic, economic, social and cultural activities, including at the decision-making level.
• Eliminate discrimination in hiring and promotion.
• Promote an increase in the number of women in leadership positions, especially in education at all levels.
• Encourage women’s participation in all areas of culture and sport and promote opportunities for girls and women to freely choose activities.
• Focus efforts on ensuring girls’ and women’s freedom of choice in education and careers, including freedom from gender stereotypes and third-party influences.

2. Financial policies and programmes to address the financial challenges in education:

• Provide adequate budgetary and administrative resources to ensure a sufficient number of educational premises with adequate facilities and the necessary qualified personnel.
• Provide an adequate budgetary allocation for the security of educational premises. 
• Ensure stability and reduction of tuition fees in higher education institutions, as well as reduction of indirect costs of education at all levels.
• Provide sufficient budgetary resources to ensure that education is accessible and adaptable to the needs of girls and women with disabilities.
• Provide scholarships and support incentives to increase the number of women and girls enrolled in programmes in science, technology, engineering and other non-traditional disciplines and careers for women.
• Ensure adequate funding to address violence in educational institutions and on the way to them.

It seems possible to draw a conclusion. The realisation of the right to education is an opportunity for girls and women to fulfil their potential, make their voices heard and gain access to further development in the economic, social, cultural, civic and political areas. Obstacles to the full realisation of the right to education have devastating consequences, both for the well-being of girls and women and for the prosperity of the world and of humankind. Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women proclaims the right of women and girls to education, calling on States parties to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in order to ensure equal rights with men in the field of education. [16] The implementation mechanism of States Parties to the Convention is thus activated in view of the voluntary commitments they have undertaken. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has played an essential role in guiding implementation, stating that “States parties have an obligation not only to ensure that education is recognised as a human right, but also to create appropriate conditions for girls and women to fully and freely enjoy and exercise this right. [17]

By adopting a comprehensive approach to the definition of “appropriate measures”, the Committee offers innovative recommendations to remove all barriers to girls’ and women’s education, in particular barriers to access to the right to education, and to eliminate obstacles to the realisation of educational rights and rights acquired through education. By “appropriate measures”, the Committee considers a wide range of measures to include, inter alia, directing efforts to ensure inclusive education that takes into account the barriers faced by girls and women, especially those belonging to the most vulnerable groups, focusing efforts on providing adequate infrastructure services, including transport and sanitation, promoting human rights training for teaching personnel, stressing on the importance of female teaching personnel, increasing the use of information and communication technologies, in particular for disadvantaged girls and women, developing literacy strategies, and monitoring the right to education of girls and women at all levels of education. The Committee also highlighted the importance of actions aimed at addressing and preventing Internet bullying, confronting and removing negative cultural and other barriers that hinder women’s access to education or lead to their premature withdrawal from the education system, including due to early pregnancy. Moreover, an important appeal of the Committee is the use of financial instruments to incentivise and assist women and girls students, and to ensure that the State party’s education policy is reformed in the spirit of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

The analytical framework on measures to strengthen the implementation mechanism in the field of education in the spirit of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, developed in accordance with the Committee’s jurisprudence, is intended to contribute to establishing a global consensus for a full and effective declaration of the right of women and girls to education and, ultimately, to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls in education.

[1] CEDAW, General recommendation No. 36 – the right of girls and women to education (2017), UN Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/36. Para 5.
[2] Ibid. Para 18.
[3] Commission on Human Rights, Preliminary report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Ms. Katarina Tomaszewska, submitted pursuant to Commission on Human Rights Resolution 1998/33 (1999), UN Doc E/CN.4/1999/49. Para 42-74.
[4] Ibid. Para 51-61.
[5] Ibid. Para 62.
[6] Ibid. Para 70.
[7] CEDAW, General recommendation No. 36 — the right of girls and women to education (2017), UN Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/36. Paras 14-17.
[8] Ibid. Para 33.
[9] Ibid. Para 47-50.
[10] Ibid. Para 40-46.
[11] Ibid. Para 56.
[12] Ibid. Para 58-63.
[13] Ibid. Para 77.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid. Para 81.
[16] Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (entered into force on 3 September 1981), adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 34/180. Article 10.
[17] CEDAW, General Recommendation No. 36 – The right of girls and women to education (2017), UN Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/36. Para. 21.