Editing Gender equality (section)

====Girls' access to education====
{{Main|Female education|Gender and education}}
In many parts of the world, girls' access to education is very restricted. In developing parts of the world women are often denied opportunities for education as girls and women face many obstacles. These include: early and forced marriages; early pregnancy; prejudice based on gender stereotypes at home, at school and in the community; violence on the way to school, or in and around schools; long distances to schools; vulnerability to the HIV epidemic; school fees, which often lead to parents sending only their sons to school; lack of gender sensitive approaches and materials in classrooms.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teachers.org.uk/node/12978|title=Global issues affecting women and girls |website=National Union of Teachers|access-date=14 June 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429020903/http://www.teachers.org.uk/node/12978|archive-date=29 April 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.campaignforeducationusa.org/obstacles-to-education-for-girls-and-women|title=Global Campaign For Education United States Chapter|access-date=14 June 2015|archive-date=16 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916235149/http://campaignforeducationusa.org/obstacles-to-education-for-girls-and-women|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://plan-international.org/files/Africa/progress-and-obstacles-to-girls-education-in-africa|title=Progress and Obstacles to Girls' Education in Africa|website=Plan International|date=16 July 2015|access-date=21 June 2014|archive-date=29 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729202549/http://plan-international.org/files/Africa/progress-and-obstacles-to-girls-education-in-africa|url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[OHCHR]], there have been multiple attacks on schools worldwide during the period 2009–2014 with "a number of these attacks being specifically directed at girls, parents and teachers advocating for gender equality in education".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15555&LangID=E|title=Attacks against girls' education occurring with "increasing regularity" – UN human rights report|date=9 February 2015|website=Ohchr.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-03-27|archive-date=2018-08-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810113244/https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15555&LangID=E|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[United Nations Population Fund]] says:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unfpa.org/gender-equality|title=Gender equality|website=[[United Nations Population Fund]]|access-date=17 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190520233303/https://www.unfpa.org/gender-equality|archive-date=20 May 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|About two thirds of the world's [[Gender disparities in literacy|illiterate]] adults are women. Lack of an education severely restricts a woman's access to information and opportunities. Conversely, increasing women's and girls' educational attainment benefits both individuals and future generations. Higher levels of women's education are strongly associated with lower infant mortality and lower fertility, as well as better outcomes for their children.}}According to [[UNESCO]], extreme exclusion still characterizes some countries, and pockets of exclusion remain in others. In Afghanistan, where girls have been banned again from secondary schools, there had been rapid progress in completion rates. For example, girls' primary completion increased from 8% in 2000 to 56% in 2020, although the gender gap remained at 20 percentage points. In some provinces, such as Uruzgan, just 1% of girls completed primary in 2015. A 20 percentage point gender gap in access to upper secondary education is also observed in sub-Saharan African countries, including Chad and Guinea.<ref>Global Education Monitoring Report Team (2022). [https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381329.locale=en ''Global education monitoring report 2022: gender report, deepening the debate on those still left behind''.] UNESCO. {{ISBN|978-92-3-100524-4}}.</ref>