RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - When it comes to female education rates, progress has been made around the world, and in many countries girls and young women have outnumbered and outperformed boys and men at all levels of schooling for decades. Nevertheless, these advances have yet to translate into greater equity in employment, politics and social relations.
In Brazil, for example, 53.3 percent of newly enrolled university students in 2007 were women, and they have almost consistently accounted for 55 percent or more of first-year students over the last 15 years. Moreover, the proportion of women among university graduates every year is over 60 percent, which demonstrates that they are more successful students as well.
In fact, females represent a majority at every level of education in Brazil, and the average rate of schooling among Brazilian women is more than one year higher than that of men. Yet women continue to earn 30 percent less than men for the same work, and they occupy a mere 56 of the 594 seats in the Brazilian Congress.
In the Philippines, where women have scored higher than men on literacy for many years, 17.83 percent of women graduate from college compared to 8.24 percent of men, according to data from the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW).
But women tend to pursue higher studies in areas like education and health, while men represent over 80 percent of engineering and law students.
Women also comprise the overall majority among university students in South Africa, although not within traditionally male disciplines like engineering. And while women now have much more significant representation in academia, this trend does not continue to the highest ranks.
In Chile as well, women outnumber men in all areas of education, according to the government's 2009 Territorial Gender Inequity Index, which is based on literacy rates, years of schooling and net coverage of primary and secondary education.
But women make up only 42 percent of the active workforce, and earn 30 percent less than their male colleagues.
"Education alone cannot work miracles," observed Fulvia Rosemberg, a researcher at the Brazilian-based Carlos Chagas Foundation. When it comes to overcoming the inequality of opportunities between the sexes, changing values and attitudes is much more complex, she noted, adding, "As long as child care is not available for all families, there will be no structural changes in women's participation in the labor market."
Brazil is a prime example. Only 18 percent of children aged three and under are enrolled in day care centers, said Rosemberg, who is also a professor at the Catholic University of S