Quality education for all is a fundamental human right, a protection mechanism and a catalyst for personal and social development. In crisis contexts, a gender-responsive education system is crucial to ensure male and female learners of all ages have access to quality, relevant and protective educational opportunities. In these contexts, educational needs change, and different barriers for boys and girls are often apparent with girls usually experiencing the greater disadvantage.
This Inter-Agency Network for Education (INEE) Pocket Guide to Gender builds upon the foundational principles and standards codified within the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Gender Handbook, and the INEE Minimum Standards, to provide practical guidance and strategies to put gender equality efforts into action. This pocket guide is for designed for anyone working to provide, manage or support education services as part of emergency preparedness, response or recovery, whether with governments, private schools, non-government organisations or international agencies. It has been written with education practitioners, including those involved in Education Clusters and other coordination or sector working groups, in mind, but the principles and advice should also be useful for others.
The pocket guide first outlines useful principles for a gender-responsive approach to guide all education programming, and provides responses to some of the most common misconceptions and arguments against gender-responsive education. It then gives concrete strategies and actions for putting gender equality into practice in the major domains of education in emergencies. Finally, key gender terms and a selection of resources are listed at the end of the pocket guide.