Analysis of the GEM Report Gender Review monitoring framework

• In Event: Gender equality in education – a discussion on the 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report Gender Review

Proposal

The discussant will provide a thorough analysis of the GEM Report Gender Review monitoring framework. Drawing on learnings from UNGEI’s Gender Responsive Education Sector Planning initiative, reflections on possible next steps to enhance the use of the Framework will be presented.

SDG 4 presents a new level of ambition in regard to gender equality in education. Equally important, is the expectation that progress towards the new targets will be effectively tracked.

The Gender Review provides a unique platform for innovation in monitoring gender equality in education to be shared, showcasing and building on the work of academics and other partners. The Gender Equality Framework represents a major paradigm shift from the dominant focus on gender parity to gender equality in education, and offers a viable alternative to existing tools.

UNGEI has been actively engaged in efforts to promote this shift, and in 2016 convened a workshop with the leading thinkers in gender, education and global monitoring where the original version of the GE Framework was examined. UNGEI’s mandate is to support the global community to deliver on our collective goals of gender equality in and through education, and recognized the critical role of the GEMR as a standard setter for what good monitoring entails. Thus, we are very pleased that the GE Framework is the core monitoring tool for the 2018/2019 Gender Review.

The question is not whether we are going in the right direction, but rather, what it will take to convince global education institutions and national Ministries of Education to adopt this approach. Currently, the GPI remains the key monitoring tool used in education sector analysis, which forms the basis for ESPs. Annual Joint Sector Reviews which offer a key moment of reflection and course correction at the country level rarely consider gender issues and are a long way from using anything like the GE framework.

Author

• Nora Fyles, UN Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI)