Educating Girls: Why ‘Agenda 2030’ should be called ‘Gender 2030’

This event of Friends of Europe is part of Development Policy Forum (DPF), which brings together a number of important development actors, including the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the United Nations and the World Bank.

Reflecting the growing role of the private sector in development, the DPF has now welcomed Coca-Cola and Eni to the forum. The DPF contributes to the global and European conversation on inclusive development. Through its activities and publications, the DPF reflects the rapidly-changing global debate on growth and development and seeks to encourage a multi-stakeholdered, fresh, up-to-date thinking on the multiple challenges facing the development community.

Educating Girls & Gender Equality

Agenda 2030 highlights the importance of gender equality and insists that every child should have the right to a safe, formal, quality education and access to lifelong learning. Access to education should not be determined by a child’s gender. Yet, girls are still 1.5 times more likely than boys to be completely excluded from primary education, and by 2016, less than half of all countries had achieved gender parity in education at secondary level.

Globally, 130 million girls are out of school and 15 million girls of primary school age will never even enter a classroom. This impacts directly on the wellbeing of girls who cannot develop much-needed skills to take charge of their lives, homes and careers. Women’s education also increases their workforce participation, directly affecting their cities’ and countries economic growth and productivity.

Friends of Europe

What role should the EU play to help countries fulfil their promise to close the gender gap by 2030?

And what action needs to be taken to overcome the complex global barriers to not only getting girls into school but also providing them with a meaningful education and the required skills to enter into the work force?

Moderated by
Shada Islam, Director for Europe and Geopolitics at Friends of Europe

27 February 2019

This event is exclusively for Friends of Europe’s members, EU institution representatives and media.

Join here the debate?