Educating women is progress for all

As we celebrate the International Women's Day on 8 March, let us enhance the commitment to women’s education and learning. The Second Global Report on Adult Learning and Education highlights national measures targeting women in adult literacy and adult education programmes. Findings from the report support the need to increase learning opportunities for women:

• Learning initiatives targeting women are effective in improving health and economic productivity.
• Women’s participation in literacy programmes is effective in raising knowledge on democracy and increasing their political participation.
• Only few countries have set specific literacy targets for women even though there are twice as many illiterate women than men.

UIL is working with governments and civil society to enhance the quality of literacy policies and programmes with strong gender equality lens. These were published in recent months:

1. Gender equality matters: Empowering women through literacy programmes
2. Literacy Programmes with a Focus on Women to Reduce Gender Disparities
3. Literacy and Women’s Empowerment: Stories of Success and Inspiration (English / French)

Link to UNESCO page on the International Women’s Day

For more information, please contact UIL Gender Focal Points ( and ).