In Context: 5 Web Perspectives On A Story In The News

The equality of education

(Reuters) The World Economic Forum released a report Nov. 12 that states girls and women have almost reached parity with their male peers in educational attainment in both rich and poor countries. The 2008 Global Gender Gap report took averages from 130 national scores to reach its conclusion. It also found that women still lag far behind men in top political decision making roles – a waste of talent considering their access to education is nearly equal. Norway, Finland and Sweden ranked highest in equality while Saudi Arabia, Chad and Yemen were the least equal.

1.

See the Global Gender Gap Report 2008 for yourself

World Economic Forum homepage
Here you can read the Global Gender Gap Report for 2008 and see which countries ranked high and which ones ranked low. Past reports from previous years are also available for download in PDF or Excel format. The site also goes into detail about what else the World Economic Forum deals with as an organization.

2.

Let the map do the talking: gender equality in Africa

GRID-Arendal homepage
This map shows the number of girls per 100 boys in primary schools in African countries. Easy-to-follow colour coding makes this map very easy to understand and tells you visually which African nations are the most equal in regards to education. Other cool interactive maps on the site let users look at statistics related to sustainable development, changes in the ozone layers or many other important issues related to human impact on the world -- the site hosts 1372 graphics and it's updated frequently. Go get lost in the data!

3.

UNICEF: the double dividend of gender equality

UNICEF
This particular UNICEF site is good because it not only offers us text, but lots of multimedia content as well -- it's very simple and easy to navigate. This site is dedicated to "the state of the world's children 2007." There are really good feature stories about young women from around the world, which is nice because it puts a face to the people who suffer from inequality. Be sure to check out the videos for each of the profiled characters to hear their stories.

4.

Gender equality through film: the site for "Born Into Brothels" - an award winning documentary

Kids With Cameras
This site has information about the film Born Into Brothels, the winner of the 77th Academy Awards for best documentary feature. You can check out all the awards the film has won, look at production stills (photos the kids took) and read quotes from the movie. The movie deals with gender related themes and the lack of access of education for children born and raised in Calcutta's red light district. The site provides a great overview for those interested in seeing it.

5.

Promoting equality: a new vision

Canadian Department of Justice
This will link you to Chapter 8 of the Human Rights Act Review on education and promotion of equality. Since this is a Department of Justice site, you can expect dry material -- but it is still very important if you are doing any serious research on the topic.