GENDER EQUALITY IN EDUCATION N.

Santosh Ranganath
Faculty Member Dept. of Commerce and Management Studies Dr.B.R.Ambedkar University Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, India

The right to education bridges the division of human rights into civil and political on the one hand, and economic, social and cultural, on the other hand. The right to education is a civil and political right since it is central to the full and effective realization of all human rights and freedoms. In this respect, the right to education epitomizes the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights. Nevertheless, millions of children around the world still fail to gain access to schooling, and even larger numbers among those who do enroll, leave prematurely, dropping out before the skills of literacy and numeracy have been properly gained. Educational inequality is a major infringement of the rights of women and girls and an important barrier to social and economic development. The right to education is protected comprehensively under articles 13 and 14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which also enshrines a prohibition on discrimination based on sex, both in law and in fact. To promote gender equality and parity in education, states must target their efforts not only toward education itself, but also toward societys cultural and institutional framework. States should reduce the financial burdens of sending female children to school, and should reform the education system so that it no longer creates or permits the existence of separate standards and opportunities for females and males.

The role of new information and communication technologies (ICT) and ecommerce in driving the global economy is widely recognized: ICT and the Internet reach many people, have a wide geographical coverage and are efficient in terms of time and cost. They facilitate access to markets, commercial information, new processing technologies and knowledge. In the developing world, the use of ICT and e-commerce seems to be particularly attractive to women owning small enterprises. These female entrepreneurs are now able to use ICT to identify new business opportunities or communicate with potential clients. ICT and e-commerce offer substantial possibilities to improve the lives of women (and their families) in developing countries. While many examples exist of how women have used the new technologies to improve their businesses, create new businesses or find new employment opportunities, the large majority of women in developing countries are still excluded from the digital economy. Gender equality is having the objective to enhance womens participation in the digital economy and thus increase national capacity and achieve greater economic development and growth.