SOLIDAR: Education, the key to fighting discrimination and empowering women
Europe has made progress towards equality between men and women, and access to quality education is open to both men and women to pursue the career of their choice. There are still many challenges however, regarding equal treatment on the job market, the gender pay gap and women’s participation in the public sphere on equal terms with men. SOLIDAR believes that education is the key tool to fight against discrimination and to empower women to act.
Last week on the eve of International Woman’s Day the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s’ Rights and Gender Equality together with the Committee on Culture and Education held an inter-parliamentary hearing on empowering woman and girls through education. As stated during the meeting education for girls should not be a luxury, a necessity but a fundamental right, and access to it should not be limited by any means. Unfortunately it is not always the case. In many places in the world girls face many obstacles to pursuing education, are much more likely to drop out from school, and later in their lives are expected to earn far less than their male counterparts. As research and evidence show, in the developing countries quality education is a transformative tool that has a high impact on the lives and health of the individual, and impacts entire communities. Both in the EU and in the developing countries we should all strive to invest in developing the skills, knowledge and potential of learners, and to enhance women’s political and social participation.
Malala Yousafzai, the young human rights and education activist awarded the Nobel Peace Prize said on her visit to the European Parliament last year: “The powerful country should not be judged by counting its soldiers and navy, but rather we must see which country has the highest literacy rate, which country has the most educated people, which country provides the most of the basic rights to its people, which country has provided an equal state to man and woman, and country with talented and skilful and educated people is a super power”. Believing in this principle SOLIDAR advocates for investing in education and training for social justice as a mean to combat inequalities and to providing equal learning opportunities to both men and women. This approach should be given utmost priority by governments, especially in countries facing economic crisis, where they should adopt the investing in education approach instead of pursuing fiscal consolidation plans.
