Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Fifty-first session
13 February – 2 March 2012
Item 6 of the provisional agenda
Implementation of articles 21 and 22 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
Reports by specialized agencies on the implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their activities
Report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization*
|
Summary In accordance with article 22 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the specialized agencies have been invited to submit to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, at its fifty-first session, reports on the implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their activities. |
Introduction
1.The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women will, at its fifty-first session, examine the national reports of the following countries: Algeria, Brazil, , Congo, Grenada, Jordan, Norway and Zimbabwe.
2.As a specialized agency, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) contributes to the building of peace, the alleviation of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, and communication and information. In accordance with UNESCO’s Medium-Term Strategy for 2008-2013, gender equality has been designated as one of two global priorities of the Organization. The “Priority Gender Equality” is pursued through a two pronged approach, (a) gender-specific programming and (b) mainstreaming of gender equality perspectives in all UNESCO fields of competence.
3.UNESCO has a major role and responsibility within the United Nations system for the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which provides that “the States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in order to ensure to them equal rights with men in the field of education” (art. 10). The right to education is at the very heart of UNESCO's mission and is an integral part of its constitutional mandate. UNESCO’s normative action for the implementation of the Convention against Discrimination in Education (1960) contributes to promoting equality of educational opportunities among girls and boys. Basic education for girls and women has also been an important element in the vision for education developed by the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, in its report presented to UNESCO, “Learning: The treasure within” (1996), which stated that “education is a human right and an essential tool for achieving the goals of equality, development and peace. The Education for All (EFA) movement is a global commitment to provide quality basic education for all girls and boys, women and men. The Dakar Framework for Action mandated UNESCO to coordinate these partners, in cooperation with the four other conveners of the Dakar Forum (the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Population Fund, UNICEF and the World Bank), and UNESCO focuses its activities on five key areas: policy dialogue, monitoring, advocacy, mobilization of funding, and capacity development.
4.UNESCO efforts to promote women’s empowerment, women’s rights and gender equality are guided by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action, resolutions and international and regional instruments relevant to UNESCO’s areas of action, UNESCO’s Medium-Term Strategy for 2008-2013, UNESCO’s bi-annual programme and budget document, as well as UNESCO’s organization-wide “Priority Gender Equality Action Plan for 2008-2013” which supports and guides the implementation of its global “Priority Gender Equality”.
5.UNESCO’s commitment to promote women’s empowerment, women’s rights and gender equality is facilitated by the Division for Gender Equality in the Office of the Director-General. As the UNESCO focal point for gender equality, the Division provides policy guidance and recommendations in the Secretariat, carries out capacity-building and coordinates cutting edge research in order to provide informed policy advice to Member States. The Division also monitors gender parity within the UNESCO Secretariat.
II.Measures taken by UNESCO to implement the provisions of the Convention in the countries to be considered at its 51st session
Algeria
6.The UNESCO/ISESCO (Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Arab Research-Policy Network on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ARADESC) was launched in Rabat in March 2006. The 26 founding members, representing national human rights organizations, universities and research institutions, as well as UNESCO Chairs, non-governmental organizations in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, have identified cultural rights as a priority for research. The cultural-rights approach also considers the cultural construction of categories of persons in vulnerable situations, namely women. Since its creation, ARADESC has been striving to respect women’s rights to participate freely and equally in cultural life, and to delegitimize and eliminate practices that violate cultural rights and target women. The book "Cultural rights in the Maghreb and Egypt" is available at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001900/190009F.pdf).
7.UNESCO's International Initiative for Community Multimedia Centres (CMCs) promotes community empowerment and addresses the digital divide by combining community broadcasting with the Internet and related technologies. The CMC programme offers a global strategy for addressing the digital divide in the poorest communities of the developing world and also among countries in transition. The aim of the project “Training of women journalists in Algeria”, initiated by UNESCO’s Office in Rabat, is to bridge the gender gap in the media through the organization of training sessions for women journalists. The training sessions will teach women new techniques in editing, feature reporting, interviews and live debates, and help them to benefit from the information technology revolution by providing access to the Internet and distance learning. The project will moreover facilitate reflection on content making for media programmes and promote exchanges between women journalists from the region. The Rabat office also launched a guidebook on “Women and Radio in the Maghreb Region” which will help radio owners, managers and producers to create gender-sensitive content and to reduce stereotyping in their productions. The guidebook, along with the first one produced in 2010 on “Women and Television in the Maghreb Region”, will serve as reference material for the “Training of women journalists in Algeria” project.
Brazil
8.UNESCO’s “Passport to Equality”, which features the articles of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”, was translated into Portuguese and widely disseminated to schools, universities and women’s groups and associations by the UNESCO Office in Brazil. The “Passport to Equality” has been translated into more than 22 languages.
9.Within the framework of the long-term partnership established between UNESCO and the Brazilian Ministry of Education, UNESCO develops annual workplans with the Ministry to support the implementation of educational policies in Brazil. Within this agreement, UNESCO also implements a project on “Brazil-Africa: Crossed Histories”, aimedg at raising awareness among girls and boys of the importance of African history and culture in Brazilian schools, and addressing racism and discrimination through proactive activities and practical exercises based on education and culture.
10.Within the framework of the national “L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science”, seven Brazilian women scientists have been selected each year by a jury composed of members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, UNESCO and L’Oréal. Each scientist receives a fellowship of US$ 20,000 to support the development of her research project.
11.The UNESCO Office in Brazil recently designed an e-learning training course for health and education professionals. One of the modules is devoted to “Gender and sexual and reproductive rights of adolescents and young women”. The course will be offered to 40,000 basic and secondary education teachers.
12.UNESCO and the Government of Brazil have jointly designed comic books, teachers’ guides and CDs on issues pertaining to HIV and AIDS and gender equality, sexual and reproductive rights, human rights and alcohol and other drugs prevention. The material has been disseminated to 40,000 public schools in Brazil. UNESCO is also organizing conferences on “Women living with HIV and AIDS” in Portuguese-speaking countries (“Saber para Reagir”). Two conferences were organized in Brazil and Angola in 2010, and seven others are scheduled for 2012 both in Brazil and in African countries.
13.The UNESCO Office in Brazil and the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in Africa (BREDA) are organizing “Human rights and sexual and reproductive rights” training workshops for basic-education teachers from Portuguese-speaking African countries. Two training workshop have been organized so far, one in Cap Verde and one in Guinea Bissau. The topics included female genital mutilation, the transmission of HIV, violence against women and sexual diversity.
14.Within the framework of UNESCO's International Initiative for Community Multimedia Centres (CMCs), which promotes community empowerment and addresses the digital divide by combining community broadcasting with the Internet and related technologies, a project on “Strengthening Women's Leadership Role in Community Development through Radio and Internet” has been implemented in Brazil. 13 community radios have been equipped with computers and Internet connections to improve women’s knowledge of ICTs and strengthen their active participation in content- and decision-making. The primary target group is women radio communicators in underserved and marginalized urban areas, and in remote rural areas without Internet connection. The secondary target group is women and community at large with access to the Internet as well as to the programs that are broadcast through the local radios.
15.Another Community Multimedia Centre project is the “Prevention of women's participation in organized armed violence”. The project aims at increasing the quality and quantity of coverage on women and issues of armed violence, human security and development by: (a) developing accurate and analytical content on women and organized armed violence in Rio for dissemination in the media, including TV, radio, newspapers and electronic outlets; (b) training women from affected communities to build capacity for media advocacy and develop skills for working with journalists from all media, taking into account safety considerations; (c) training representatives of civil society organizations working on women's issues to express a unified message and raise the profile of the issue of women and armed crime in the media; (d) holding training sessions with Rio-based journalists, particularly women, to provide information and new approaches to covering the city's armed violence problem; (e) building an international database of contacts and other useful information on women, human security and development; and (f) monitoring media coverage on these issues in the print media and through an electronic clipping service. One of the main long-term objectives of the project is to build women's capacity to act as advocates to improve the security situation by influencing public opinion through the media.
16.The Community Multimedia Centre project on “regional workshop on raising gender awareness through media” strives to introduce gender-sensitive policies and laws in fighting discrimination against women, and to provide media professionals with the necessary knowledge and skills to recognize and to address gender equality issues in all communication process and to be gender-sensitive while producing news and reporting objectively. The project aims to train 25 journalists and/or media professionals in gender sensitive reporting to be able to promote gender equality through media and to reinforce institutional capacities with a view to create a national media laboratory.
Congo
1 7 . UNESCO’s project “Reinforcement of the global response to education and HIV and AIDS in Congo” aims at providing learning opportunities for marginalized and excluded women, and reducing stigma and discrimination while respecting human rights, cultural diversity and gender equality. The project will also assist in giving access to good-quality HIV and AIDS learning opportunities for women and girls, both at the workplace and in schools.
Grenada
18.UNESCO and Grenada have established a community multimedia centre with a view to improving the communicative capacity of rural women and girls in order to access the information they need to participate in national dialogues and democratic decision-making processes affecting their livelihoods. The centre will provide communication services, and offer training to at least 40 rural women and girls in ICT skills, such as website development, audio and videotaping, and Internet. The project will also support the array of training programmes and vital information that “GRENCODA”, an NGO that has been working in rural development since 1985, currently provides to rural women by editing and documenting training experiences into self-learning multimedia packages. The project will also provide training to at least 45 local women and men producers in desktop publishing.
Jordan
19.The UNESCO Office in Beirut is carrying out a review of the legal and policy frameworks of the educational systems in Jordan. The purpose of the review is to determine the compatibility of national laws and policies with international human rights frameworks relating to the right to education and their provisions for gender equality. Based on the findings of the review, UNESCO will make recommendations for developing gender sensitive educational reforms and laws. This activity is intended to assist Member States to accelerate their efforts in achieving the international development goals, especially those pertaining to gender equality.
20.The project on “Building capacities of women citizen journalists in rural areas” aims at providing a high degree of support for women’s role in community development by involving female and male community members when addressing local issues. The project will create a network of six female community radio journalists aged between 20 and 35 who will be trained over a six-month period to produce 12 shows telling stories about the socio-economic realities of their communities from a gender-equality perspective, and attempting to promote women’s empowerment and bridge the gender gap within the Jordanian media landscape.
Norway
21.No information.
Zimbabwe
22.The project entitled “Strengthening National TVET Systems in Harare Cluster countries (Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe)” will contribute to formulating policies that promote equitable access of girls and boys to secondary general and technical and vocational education, and to support policy dialogue on education for sustainable development through joint activities that take into account scientific principles, culture and communication as well as respect for cultural diversity and gender equality. The project will benefit young women and men enrolled in national education systems as well as national technical and vocational authorities.
23.Within the framework of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, UNESCO promotes the preservation, restoration, and sustainable management of World Heritage Sites in the Harare Cluster countries (Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), mainly by encouraging women’s active participation in World Heritage Committees and related management and conservation initiatives for World Heritage, and by promoting the gender equality dimensions of intangible cultural heritage and women’s important role in transmitting intangible heritage. UNESCO is also promoting community-based cultural tourism in Zimbabwe through rehabilitation of markets for cultural goods and capacity building of creators around heritage sites and national monuments by increasing women's active and visible participation as major players in cultural and creative industries.
24.UNESCO and the “Women Film Makers of Zimbabwe” organized the International Images Film Festival in November 2010, aiming at empowering women filmmakers and promoting women’s creative diversity.
Table: Gross enrolment ratio , female and male : gender - parity index education statistics for all countries
r eporting for the 51st session
|
Data |
Gross enrolment ratio Primary Female |
Gross enrolment ratio. Primary. Male |
Gross enrolment ratio. Secondary. Female |
Gross enrolment ratio. Secondary. Male |
Gross enrolment ratio. Tertiary. Female |
Gross enrolment ratio. Tertiary.Male |
Gender parity index for gross enrolment ratio. Primary |
Gender parity index for gross enrolment ratio. Secondary. |
Ge nder parity index for gross enrolment ratio Tertiary |
|
|
Country |
Year |
|||||||||
|
Algeria |
2007 |
108 |
115 |
... |
... |
28 |
20 |
0.94 |
... |
1.40 |
|
2008 |
106 |
113 |
... |
... |
... |
... |
0.94 |
... |
... |
|
|
2009 |
107 |
114 |
96 |
94 |
36 |
25 |
0.94 |
1.02 |
1.44 |
|
|
2010 |
107 |
113 |
... |
... |
37 |
25 |
0.94 |
... |
1.46 |
|
|
Jordan |
2007 |
100 |
98 |
91 |
88 |
41 |
36 |
1.02 |
1.04 |
1.12 |
|
2008 |
98 |
97 |
93 |
89 |
44 |
39 |
1.01 |
1.04 |
1.12 |
|
|
2009 |
... |
... |
... |
... |
44 |
39 |
... |
... |
1.12 |
|
|
2010 |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
|
|
Brazil |
2007 |
... |
... |
... |
... |
34 |
27 |
... |
... |
1.29 |
|
2008 |
123 |
132 |
106 |
96 |
39 |
30 |
0.93 |
1.11 |
1.29 |
|
|
2009 |
... |
... |
... |
... |
42 |
31 |
... |
... |
1.35 |
|
|
2010 |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
|
|
Grenada |
2007 |
96 |
97 |
109 |
112 |
... |
... |
0.98 |
0.97 |
... |
|
2008 |
97 |
102 |
105 |
115 |
... |
... |
0.95 |
0.91 |
... |
|
|
2009 |
102 |
108 |
101 |
101 |
61 |
45 |
0.94 |
1.00 |
1.36 |
|
|
2010 |
102 |
105 |
109 |
106 |
... |
... |
0.97 |
1.03 |
... |
|
|
Norway |
2007 |
99 |
99 |
113 |
114 |
93 |
59 |
1.00 |
0.99 |
1.58 |
|
2008 |
99 |
99 |
111 |
113 |
91 |
56 |
1.00 |
0.98 |
1.62 |
|
|
2009 |
99 |
99 |
109 |
111 |
92 |
56 |
1.00 |
0.98 |
1.64 |
|
|
2010 |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
|
|
Congo |
2007 |
106 |
113 |
… |
… |
… |
… |
0.94 |
… |
… |
|
2008 |
104 |
111 |
… |
… |
… |
… |
0.94 |
… |
… |
|
|
2009 |
108 |
116 |
… |
… |
2 |
11 |
0.94 |
… |
0.21 |
|
|
2010 |
112 |
118 |
… |
… |
3 |
8 |
0.95 |
… |
0.33 |
|
|
Zimbabwe |
2007 |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
…. |
… |
|
2008 |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
|
|
2009 |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
|
|
2010 |
… |
… |
… |
… |
5 |
7 |
… |
… |
0.80 |