Empowering Women through Education

Although considerable progress has been made in closing the gender equity gap in education, 2/3rd of the world’s 774 million adults who are functionally illiterate are women, a proportion that has not changed over the past 20 years. The world celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8, honoring women and their achievements in the social, economic and political arena. WISE promotes education for all and especially for girls and women. March 8 was therefore an ideal opportunity to highlight their mission.

Throughout the month of March the WISE website is featuring interviews, papers and videos on gender equity in education. This content includes simple and practical ideas on how to get girls into primary education and emphasizes the need for them to progress to secondary school. Innovative best practices are spotlighted together with examples of how training and mentoring can give women of all ages an active role in society. A number of debates and discussions are taking place on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MyWISE, enabling the online community to get involved.