Women’s Rights in Education

Name of Author : Dr. Sunil S. Bidwaik

Abstract:  Every woman, man, youth and child has the human right to education, training and information, and to other fundamental human rights dependent upon realization of the human right to education. Equality of access to all levels of education is crucial to empowering women and girls to participate in economic, social and political life of their societies. Education unlocks a woman’s potential, and is accompanied by improvements in health, nutrition, and well-being of women and their families. Despite widespread agreement that all people have the fundamental human right to education, 100 million children, at least 60% of them girls, do not have access to primary education. 960 million adults in the world are illiterate, and more than two-thirds of them are women. Women and girls continue to face discrimination at all levels of education, a fact which poses tremendous obstacles to their advancement. Women, in a patriarchal society, have had a social disadvantage which has prevented them from accessing opportunities available to men more freely. Throughout history, women folk have had to go through certain social deficits and bear the weight of various expectations which were quite different from the menfolk. These norms more often than not led them to be at a position of disadvantage and led to a struggle. One such position was regarding their education in Indian society.

Keywords : Gender equality, Awareness, Human rights, Human capabilities, Sustainable Development.

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