Gender & Education
Education is a building block for prosperous, stable and sustainable societies. Girls’ education, in particular, generates some of the highest returns of all development investments, yielding both private and social benefits that accrue to individuals and families. In this series of infographics, we shed light on educational attainment around the Med and explore what progress the nations of the Mediterranean have made over the past years in reducing gender gaps in education.
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Greatest reduction in out-of-school children in the Med
Over 94% of Morocco’s children now go to school, up from 30% for girls and 51% for boys in 1975
Largest education gender gap in the Med
Amongst the countries of the Mediterranean, Lebanon records the largest gender gap in school attendance
Girls out of school in EU Med countries
Close to 7% of girls don’t attend primary school in Greece – no other EU Med country has an equivalent figure of more than 2%
The toll of war
The most recent data from 2013, two years into the Syrian Civil War, shows that 2 million Syrian children did not attend school. That’s 60% of the total
Girls out of school in North Africa
North African countries experienced a steep drop in the number of girls out of primary school since the turn of the century, with every country except Morocco having now achieved virtually full participation
Girls’ school attendance in non-EU Med countries
There’s been a significant increase in girls’ primary school attendance in Albania, but an alarming decrease in Turkey and Montenegro
Children not attending school in the Palestinian Territories
In the past ten years, the percentage of children not attending school has more than halved in the Palestinian Territories
Breaking the stereotypes
Egypt has the highest female participation in primary education amongst Muslim-majority Med countries, while more than 98% of girls now go to school in Algeria and Tunisia
Women in academia: Albania
In Albania, the share of female academic staff in tertiary education has doubled since 1991, reaching 56% in 2017 – the highest value amongst the Mediterranean countries
Women in academia: North Africa
Amongst North African countries, Morocco has the lowest share of female academic staff in tertiary education
Women in academia: EU Med countries
Academia in EU Med countries is still dominated by men, but women have been closing the gap