Gender equality and education

Our approach to inclusive, quality education is gender-transformative.

We make education fairer and safer for girls by challenging the beliefs and rules that hold them back.

Girls' education has been affected by COVID-19.

Girls learn to lead

School is often the space where girls first make their voices heard and get their first leadership opportunities – skills that shape their futures far beyond the classroom.

However, 133 million girls are currently out of school.

Being out of school doesn’t just have devastating consequences for girls’ opportunities – it places them at risk of teen pregnancy, child marriage, female genital mutilation and other forms of gender-based violence.

Education is critical in tackling harmful gender norms, and empowering girls to drive change. It gives girls the skills to become leaders, innovators and change makers, and to tackle future crises.

Equality, inclusion and diversity

Girls are leading change — staying in school, speaking out and shaping decisions that affect their lives. Through Plan’s programmes and partnerships, millions of girls are building skills, challenging harmful norms and driving progress in their communities. When girls lead, change spreads.

We focus our efforts on equality, inclusion and diversity. Our programmes don’t just work in classrooms with teachers, but also include communities, governments, religious leaders and family members in order to bring an end to gender inequality in education.

Urging leaders to fund girls’ education

Unless world leaders step up and invest in education, there is a risk that the climate crisis will lead to millions more girls missing out on school.

Increased investment in education and girls’ leadership will play an essential role in ensuring girls and young women are able to demand their rights, hold decision makers to account, and challenge the status quo, including the systems and norms which reinforce gender and climate injustice around the world.

This is why we are working with young activists who are calling on world leaders to fund and support gender-transformative, climate-aware education. Transform Education is a coalition of feminist activists and youth-led networks hosted by the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), working to transform education for gender equality.

Through our partnership, we have jointly created the #EducationShiftsPower campaign to advocate for education that advances gender and climate justice and demand young people are engaged in transforming education systems.

What are the effects of crisis on girls’ education?

Across the globe, crises are pushing millions of girls out of school — stripping away their choices and stealing their futures. Emergencies, conflict and climate shocks are undoing decades of progress.

The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare gross inequalities in our society, and the climate emergency is set to exacerbate these long into the future. Moreover, anti-rights movements are increasingly pushing back on education, particularly comprehensive sexuality education.

These factors hit girls particularly hard and threaten to roll back years of progress. It’s essential to transform the attitudes to girls’ education in an increasingly unstable world.

Girls are not backing down from demanding their full rights, freedom and futures and nor will we.