Family and Population Minister Musheera Khattab said the lack of a rights-based approach in Egypt, in accordance with international treaties against discrimination such as CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) and the CRC (the Convention on the Rights of the Child), is a real obstacle to meeting the 2015 deadline set for achieving the UN sponsored Millennium Development Goals.
At the opening session of the UNESCO Future Forum on Gender Equality held in Athens yesterday, Khattab said inequality between genders starts with poverty, extends to educational deficiencies, and ends with violence and discrimination. Low quality or a lack of education leads to marginalization of women within the family and society, the minister said.
According to Khattab, primary education institutions in Egypt have achieved important results in decreasing the gap between genders. Female enrollment throughout the different stages of education has jumped from 81 percent in 1990/91, to 93 percent in 2007/08, according to the minister.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
