ADDRESS BY MR MEVLÜT ÇAVUŞOĞLU,

PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE,

AT THE IPU PARLIAMENTARY MEETING ON

“THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENTS IN PROMOTING ACCESS AND PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS TO EDUCATION, TRAINING, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY”

(New York, 23 February 2011, 11h)

Dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

Every day, all over the world, girls are banned from attending school, beaten, neglected, coerced into forced or child marriages, sold as slaves, forced to fight in wars or to sit by silently, while their destiny is decided for them. Each time, their rights are violated.

This is not the gloomy life of a few unfortunate girls living in some backwards part of the world. It is the real life and fate of thousands of girls, nowadays, in Europe.

Over the last decades, Europe has made remarkable progress in elaborating a complex and comprehensive legal framework to ensure de iure gender equality, including equal opportunities for girls and boys to have access to education without discrimination.

However, - and I must stress, it is very disappointing, - we have to recognise that the gap between what is written in legal texts and what happens in reality is still very wide.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me share with you some of the main concerns of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, identified in a number of our recent reports:

In recent years, we have witnessed a ‘hidden crisis’ in girls’ education: in some countries in the Balkans and in Central and Eastern Europe, in spite of good attendance and enrolment rates, the number of girls who drop out of school is on the rise. Enrolment decreases from primary to secondary schools. Where there is parity between boys and girls in enrolment, there is often a disparity in the quality of education.

All over Europe, in rural areas affected by poverty and difficult socio-economic conditions, girls attend only part of the compulsory education.

In many cases, not being able to send all their children to school, some parents give precedence to boys over girls.

This tendency is exacerbated by the fact that girls perform essential tasks within the family, such as looking after younger children or sick relatives and doing domestic work. This encourages parents not to send them to school.

All this is very worrying. Girls’ limited access to education results in a waste of human capital. It seriously affects their development and empowerment in society.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The concerns I’ve just identified are valid globally. Today’s event offers me and other participating members of the Assembly the possibility to highlight European approaches and good practices. But we will also use this opportunity to learn from global experience. Common problems require a shared response.

So, what can we politicians do to remove obstacles to girls’ and women’s access to education? How can we combat effectively gender stereotypes in education?

In one of its recent resolutions, the Parliamentary Assembly identified a number of concrete measures in this respect:

Firstly, education is part of the problem. But it is part of the solution as well. In this respect, we suggest taking a number of concrete steps:

In order to guarantee access to education for all children, including girls, who are more frequently outside the school system than boys, states should take over the costs related to their schooling.

There should be gender balance among school staff involved in teaching, administrative and managerial activities.

The staff of educational institutions should receive training in gender equality issues. Teachers’ behaviour should not be sexist.

Teachers should be made aware of the particular difficulties which can be experienced by young immigrant girls.

Teaching material and methods should be revised in such a way as to promote non-discriminatory language and non-sexist education.

Public and private funders of school and providers of study grants should respect the principle of gender balance when awarding grants.

Secondly and, perhaps, most importantly, we must change our way of thinking: good legislation and, even, its proper implementation, won’t make the difference if the mentalities of people – be they teachers or parents – do not change radically.

In this respect, we should do some awareness raising in order to ensure that in families household tasks are not disproportionately delegated to girls.

Parents should be made more aware of the personal worth of their children, in particular their daughters.

Girls need time for themselves, for their schoolwork, their hobbies and their personal development. They should be given the same amount of such time as boys.

All this cannot be achieved only by institutional means. There is a very important human element in this process and it is our shared duty, wherever we come from and whatever activity we exercise, to promote and realise these principles.

Dear friends, distinguished colleagues,

I am sure that our today’s event will help us have a fresh look at the problems we are facing. It will also be an excellent opportunity to exchange experiences and good practices in order to break the vicious circle of inequality, by improving our education systems but also making people more aware of the need to change their mentalities radically.

I am sure our discussion will help us identify concrete measures and practices which will help girls and young women develop their potential fully. Today’s girls are tomorrow’s women! Let us create today an effective possibility for them to make tomorrow a valuable contribution to our cultures, to our economies, to our governments! Let us not forget : today’s girls are also tomorrow’s leaders !

Thank you for your attention.