Week 4: Education and empowerment of women and girls Education is an essential element of the empowerment of girls and women. A good quality education, designed on the basis of women and girls’ immediate and strategic needs , builds women’s capacities and prepares them to seize opportunities in the public and private domains.

The empowerment of women is crucial to change some of the societal attitudes and behaviours that discriminate against girls and women. The empowerment of women is therefore linked to the empowerment of girls and to the full enjoyment of their rights. What are your views on the following ways of improving the empowerment of girls and women? - To what extent have literacy and non-formal education programmes been used to empower women and out-of-school girls? - To what extent does the literacy and non-formal education provided for women enable them to be gainfully employed or self-employed to the same extent as men? - To what extent has different forms of education contributed to challenging traditional household dynamics and power relations in society? - To what extent is the development of national human resources linked to women’s non-formal education? - To what extent does government’s policy on education take into account the conditions and needs of poor and illiterate adult women? - To what extent does the education system prepare and influence society to respect the rights of girls and women and accept women in positions of responsibility? - How important are girls and women’s associations in promoting the education rights of their constituents? Are the numbers sufficient to represent women and are the conditions suitable to produce results? - How has education been used to promote women’s empowerment within the education system and in the private and public sectors?