Girls' education: Commitment or neglect?

Twelve countries with annual per capita GNPs below $500 show little or no disparity between girls' and boys' primary school enrolment rates. However, in 8 countries with incomes in the same range, girls' enrolment lags 15 percentage points or more behind boys' rates.
 
Photo:UNICEF/93-1170/Horner
Nicaragua is one country where a higher percentage of girls are enrolled in school than boys. This girl in Managua does her homework outside a building damaged during the country's civil war.
 
 
Girls' enrolment: A primary problem   
in 8 countries
Primary school enrolment in countries 
with per capita GNP below $500
Gender gaps 3 
percentage points 
and under 
 Gender gaps 15  
percentage points 
and over
 
% point gap
% point gap
Nicaragua *-3 Benin 36
Haiti *-1 Yemen 34
Bangladesh    0 Chad 28
Malawi    0 Guinea-Bissau 26
Rwanda    0 Togo 22
Zambia    0 Nepal 20
Georgia    1 Gambia 18
Ghana    1 Niger 15
Madagascar    1
Kenya    2
Mauritania    2
Nigeria    2
*A negative gender gap indicates a higher enrolment rate of girls.   
Sources: UNESCO and UNICEF.
 
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