The Global Coalition for the Protection of Education from Attack (GCPEA) has said that authoritarian regimes and non-state armed groups are depriving women and girls of education through intimidation and violence.
The group warned that the systematic exclusion of Afghan women from public life is a stark example of entrenched gender-based oppression.
In a report released this week, the coalition comprising several international organisations said attacks on educational facilities are rising globally, with women and girls disproportionately affected. It noted that an estimated 600 million women and girls live in or near areas affected by armed conflict
GCPEA said deliberate attacks on schools and universities aimed at preventing women’s access to education, the military use of educational facilities, and threats along routes to classrooms remain major obstacles for women and girls.
The report highlighted the long-term consequences of insecurity in educational settings, stating that more than half of girls in crisis-affected areas are out of school, and adolescent girls in conflict zones are 90 percent more likely to be out of school than those in peaceful countries.
“When girls are denied education, entire societies are set back,” GCPEA said, adding that the effects include increased child marriage, early pregnancy, economic exclusion and intergenerational poverty. Communities, it said, lose future teachers, doctors and leaders.
The coalition stressed that safe access to education acts as a “force multiplier” for health, stability and peace.
GCPEA said authoritarian governments and armed groups in several regions use intimidation and violence to deny women and girls access to education. It cited the Taliban as a clear example, saying: “Nowhere is this more evident than in Afghanistan, where the systematic exclusion of women and girls from education and public life has become a defining example of institutionalised gender-based oppression.”
