Say Yes, Autumn 2005: Everyone Needs a Quality Education
The Haydi Kızlar Okula! campaign for girls’ education has also had a marked effect on boys’ enrolment -- taking Turkey that bit closer to achieving universal primary education. Photograph by Rana Mullan © UNICEF Turkey 2005
The issues of universal primary education and women’s empowerment, targeted by the second and third MDGs, are intimately connected. Without gender parity in education, universal primary education cannot be achieved and empowerment of women is a non-starter. For many Turkish families, especially those who are struggling to survive on a low income, the advantages in educating their daughters are obscure: the scarcity of strong female role models in public, professional and family life suggests to them that there is little to be gained by educating girls.
Turkey looks set to close the gap in primary education and meet the MDG of universal primary education by 2015. However, the latest Progress for Children report from UNICEF in April cautioned that progress is slow compared to other countries in the region.
Girls’ enrolment declines markedly between primary and secondary education as demands on their time for domestic and other forms of informal labour increase
Photograph by Rana Mullan
© UNICEF Turkey 2005
Turkey took a major step towards universal primary education with the extension of the compulsory period of primary schooling from 5 to 8 years in 1997. This led to a general increase in enrolment rates although girls’ enrolment continued to be markedly lower than that of boys -- especially in the poorer, rural Eastern and Southeastern provinces.
According to the 2003 Turkey Demographic and Health Survey (TDHS), 85% of men and 61% of women in Eastern Turkey have had some schooling compared to 95% of men and 85% of women in the West -- 31% of rural women and 18% of their urban counterparts had not completed any level of education.
It is fair to say that gender parity in education has had more positive media coverage than any other MDG in Turkey. In this respect, the Ministry of National Education (MONE) and UNICEF’s Haydi Kızlar Okula! campaign has done much to raise public awareness of girls’ education and increase enrolment rates during the past two years. Boys’ enrolment has also risen in provinces where the campaign is active -- a highly desirable mark of progress towards universal primary education although the shadow of gender inequality persists.
| Indicators | Base Year value (1990) | Current (2004) | Target value (2015) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling | |||
| Indicator 6: Net enrolment ratio in primary education | 74.8% |
93.6% (provisional) |
100% |
| Indicator 7: Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach grade 5 | n/a | n/a | 100% |
| Indicator 8: Literacy rate of 15 to 25 year olds | 92.8% | 95.6% | 100% |
A complex of factors, mainly related to poverty, prevent Turkish girls and to a lesser extent boys from attending school. However, the most insidious barrier to education for girls rests on the traditional inequalities between men and women in most areas of Turkish life: the rewards of a full, rounded education for girls are either inconceivable or simply not tangible for many low income families. In rural areas especially, girls’ access to education is often blocked by domestic labour and early marriage -- factors which tend to be disguised as a lack of interest in school
. As much as a third of girls in urban areas say that the need to work is the main reason for not attending school.
Without gender equality in education and employment, Turkey will continue to miss out on developing a vast portion of its human resources -- women and girls
Photograph by Rana Mullan
© UNICEF Turkey 2005
In either environment, non-attendance of girls in school is a motif that develops into a lifetime pattern of domesticity for 50% of the female population -- making women the Turkish economy’s most under-developed and under-utilised human resource.
The gender empowerment measure (GEM) in the Human Development Report (HDR) for 2005 ranks Turkey 76th out of 140 countries that can be assessed in terms of economic and political participation, decision-making and power over economic resources -- a level of ingrained gender inequality that is inappropriate for any modern society.
According to the HDR, males earn an average of 46% more than females in similar jobs although the impact of education on earnings is significantly more for women. When the pronounced gender gap in earnings is taken into account with the finding that males dramatically outnumber females in virtually every area of formal employment, it is clear that Turkey is failing to utilise a vast portion of its human resources. More tellingly, women’s access to education and their opportunities to stay there decline as levels of income decrease.
Until Turkey is prepared to invest more heavily in girls’ education and the promotion of more equal employment opportunities for women, girls will continue to miss out on their right to a quality education and the opportunity to realise their fullest potential.
As the mothers and primary care-givers of the future, their families will miss out on better standards of health and nutrition and it is unlikely that the country will reach the level of development that it should.
| Indicators | Base Year value (1990) | Current (2004) | Target value (2015) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and at all levels of education no later than 2015 | |||
| Indicator 9a: Ratio of girls to boys in primary education | 84% | 95.1% (provisional) | 100% |
| Indicator 9b: Ratio of girls to boys in secondary education | 64.7% | 74.4% (2003) | 100% |
| Indicator 9c: Ratio of girls to boys in tertiary education | 52.9% | 74.5% (provisional 2003) | 100% |
| Indicator 10: Ratio of illiterate women to men 15-24 years old | 91.4% | 95.2% (provisional) | 100% |
| Indicator 11: Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector | 15.8% | 19.9% | 35% |
| Indicator 12: Proportion of seats held by women in the national parliament | 1.8% | 4.4% (2002) | 17% |
Find out more about Haydi Kızlar Okula! the girls’ education campaign in Turkey.
Read more about girls’ education online in UNICEF’s The State of the World’s Children Report, 2004.
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SAY YES, AUTUMN 2005
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