Education is a fundamental driver of personal, national and global development. Since the beginning of the century, recognition of this has driven many countries to pursue the Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education and eradicating gender disparities at all levels of education by 2015. This has contributed to progress in expanding educational opportunities and attainment worldwide. There is much more to be done.
To be sure, universal primary education has nearly been achieved. Moreover, considerable progress has been made toward gender equality in educational opportunities and attainment. Indeed, enrollment rates for school-age females have increased steadily at all levels, reaching near parity with male enrollment globally.
As a result, the gender gap in average years of schooling for the adult population — a widely used measure of educational attainment — has narrowed.