Closing the development gap: understanding the education experience of girls and women
Research 15 Nov 2024 8 minute readInnovative research by ACER to help combat gender disparities in education in the ASEAN region.
The ASEAN region has some of the greatest disparity in educational outcomes in the world. Generally, gender gaps in education outcomes have closed in the ASEAN region, and in some countries have been reversed. This story of progress is the result of decades of investment in gender equity initiatives.
Challenges persist that constrain girls and women from realising their full potential across the lifespan. Support is needed to enable girls and women to capitalise on their education opportunities.
As part of the new ASEAN-UK Supporting the Advancement of Girls’ Education (SAGE) programme, ACER has developed an innovative approach to help address disparities in the region. Using publicly available data from across the ASEAN region, we have developed a framework of indicators to understand the education experience of girls, women and marginalised groups across the lifespan.
The framework is based on the notion that by recognising education participation as lifelong, there are greater chances for girls and women to be empowered in education, society and economic contexts. The first of its kind in the region, the framework can be used to support regional monitoring, and to identify gaps and underlying factors that explain key differences in key educational, social and economic outcomes at national and regional levels.
ACER has also published a series of thematic studies to support the development of targeted evidence-based interventions to support girls, women and marginalised groups to close the development gap. The studies are based on the ASEAN-UK SAGE Programme’s 3 pillars:
- strengthening foundational learning for boys and girls
- supporting out-of-school girls and marginalised groups
- tackling gender barriers to basic digital skills for employment.
The studies present available evidence on the situation in the region, identify promising evidence-based initiatives, and suggest priorities for future investment by the ASEAN-UK SAGE Programme.
The 5-year ASEAN-UK SAGE programme aims to support ASEAN member states to develop effective policies and programs that improve foundational learning and tackle constraints limiting the achievement of girls, women and marginalised groups. A pioneering initiative of the ASEAN-UK Plan of Action (2022-2026), the ASEAN-UK SAGE Programme emerged from the UK’s official Dialogue Partner status with ASEAN in 2021. It is delivered by the British Council and the Southeast Asian Ministers’ of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Secretariat, in partnership with ACER and EdTech Hub. ASEAN-UK SAGE is an ASEAN cooperation programme funded by UK International Development from the UK government.
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