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What’s the state of global girls’ education during COVID?

Christina Kwauk and
Christina Kwauk
Christina Kwauk Former Brookings Expert, Head of Climate and Education - Unbounded Associates
Adrianna Pita
Adrianna Pita Office of Communications

October 9, 2020

Port-au-Prince, Haiti.- In the April 24, 2020 file photo, children in Haiti try to educate themselves amid the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). The socioeconomic effects of the coronavirus pandemic could set back "decades" the progress made in the education of girls and adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean, many of which may "never return to the classroom", as it has warned this Tuesday, International Plan. The NGO estimates that currently some 500 million children and young people around the world are not receiving distance education, "something that is having devastating consequences in Latin America and the Caribbean", where more than 95 percent of minors have remained outside of classrooms without many of them being able to follow classes online.

To mark the UN International Day of the Girl Child, Christina Kwauk examines the state of progress on girls’ education and gender equity over the last 20 years, the dangers and setbacks caused by pandemic shutdowns, and what it would mean for the U.S. to have a feminist foreign policy.

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Thanks to audio producer Colin Cruickshank, Chris McKenna, Fred Dews, Marie Wilken, and Camilo Ramirez for their support.

The Current is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

Authors

Christina Kwauk
Christina Kwauk Former Brookings Expert, Head of Climate and Education - Unbounded Associates
Adrianna Pita Office of Communications
More On
Program

Global Economy and Development

Center

Center for Universal Education