'Improve schooling for women'

'Improve schooling for women'

JAKARTA (JP): A stronger campaign to provide women with greater access to education and sexual equality is needed and should focus on convincing communities that educating women is beneficial to the economy, experts on women issues say.

May Rihani, Vice President for the Education and Training Services Division of U.S.-based Creative Associates International, said many communities are still reluctant to send women and girls to school because they feel education is not of significant benefit, with some claiming that it actually interferes with household responsibilities.

"Communities, especially in developing countries, have now become supportive of the idea of educating women and girls. Now the question is how they can be productive after they receive an education," she said during a Worldnet Dialog on Friday linking Washington, Jakarta, Surabaya and Port Moresby.

Rihani was speaking from Washington.

Margaret Lycette, Director of the Office of Women in Development at the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, said it was the responsibility of the government, through its policies, to inform local communities.

However, she said, these communities must also have a say in the policy-making process before full participation can be expected.

"They have the right to demand the type of education they want, determine who will provide it for them, when and where they can get it and how they should be getting it or how relevant the education is for them," Lycette said.

Rihani pointed out that educational policies should benefit the majority of a society. Any policy benefiting only a small, elite group of people, she said, "should be revisited or reviewed".

"The basis of an educational policy is that it must benefit as many people as possible," she said. "If it doesn't, it will not help to empower the people, the poor and, in turn, the poor women who are among the most marginalized people in community."

Lycette also emphasized the important, if not dominant, role of the private sector -- as experienced by developed countries -- in providing sound educational facilities.

Responding to a question on the role of vocational education from Saparinah Sadli, Professor for Graduate Women's Studies at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Lycette said too many vocational programs specializing in dress-making and other so- called traditional skills were out of sync with the current market demands.

"Direct links with employers are needed to understand what fields are most urgently needed," Lycette said.

Similarly, Rihani said vocational studies should be "market- driven" instead of "skill-driven". New studies, she added, are required to determine these market shifts.

Rihani said policymakers may not always be aware of the inequalities they create, although they may think they have provided equal access to education for both boys and girls.

"In Egypt, for instance, if a school is located more than 1.5 kilometers away from the house, the percentage of girls dropping out is significantly higher than boys," she said.

According to the United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), girls and women still represent two-thirds of the world's illiterate population. They are also gaining literacy at a slower rate than men.(pwn)