Final year Creative Writing student, Sharmin Ahmed, tells how education is one of the most pivotal tools in allowing women to have bright futures.

What is gender equity?

Not to be confused with gender equality which intends to ensure men and women receive the same responsibilities and opportunities irrespective of their gender. Gender equity recognises despite being equal, men, women and other gender presentations aren't the same, each group has struggles and experiences unique to themselves. Gender equity ensures fairness is shown to both men and women, taking the needs of both into account, creating treatment in all spaces that can meet those needs, making sure opportunities are not just given but crafted around the individual. In order to achieve gender equality, we must achieve gender equity.

Gender equity in education for women

It's no lie that in many countries all over the world that women are seen as the lesser sex, the notion still present in many progressive countries, unworthy of their own autonomy.

Education is one of the most pivotal tools in allowing women to have bright futures, allowing them to pave their path with their own hands and giving them a fighting chance. However, despite this, women still haven't been fully realised in the educational setting with certain cultural beliefs influencing families to favour a son's educational journey as opposed to their daughters, expecting them to give up their future for a life of marriage and children, which by all means is a valid pathway to take as long it's out of a woman's own volition. However, in a lot of instances, this isn't a choice for a woman, especially in third-world countries where young girls are often taken out of the school system.

Even when families treat their sons and daughters equally in terms of educational pathways, societal gender roles still come into play, subconsciously or consciously, making women unlikely to choose roles which are seen as more 'male' such as STEM subjects, despite having access to them. Quite ironic that education has historically been favoured towards men when the first university was created by a Muslim woman. Gender equity would make it so this gender focussed cultural and societal beliefs towards schooling are erased, allowing us to see women in all roles.

We can already see the sparks of this igniting, in studies dating over five decades, researchers asked children to draw a scientist to see which gender they'd draw the scientist as. About 99% of children drew the scientist as male in the 1960s however in the last decade, 30% to 60% of young girls drew the scientist as female. A huge change for the better but still a long way to go.

Gender equity in education for men

Despite the fact men have never needed to fight to be in education in the same way women have, gender inequity plagues them too. Young boys have had lower literacy rates than young girls for decades. Studies have suggested this is due to stereotypes within the classroom of boys being perceived as dumb and lazy, and that teachers often have lesser expectations for a young boy's grades and behaviour. Further research has shown when young boys are told girls are smarter than them, their performance on tests drops significantly. Their performance would then improve when told both boys and girls are smart, a good example of gender equity in action.

In addition to this rarely do you see a man in careers such as nursing and this is due to toxic masculinity, a by-product of gender inequity, viewing men as un-nurturing creatures who shouldn't show emotions. This has seeped into the workplace as many jobs don't provide extended parental leave or flexible hours for fathers as they are seen to be the breadwinners and the women as the ones who partake in childcare, a notion that harms both genders. As a result, men's overall physical and mental health take a fall due to the stress of living up to gender roles, non-communicable diseases being linked to this as well as their high suicide rates. Because toxic masculinity exacerbates the lie that men shouldn't express their emotions, many men don't seek out professional help or emotional support for fear of being seen as unmanly and weak.

This is why we need gender equity

Gender equity must start in the home as perceptions of gender start from a young age. Children must see an acceptance of both males and females in all roles, taking on all sorts of responsibilities in order to undo the harmful gender stereotypes and fix a broken system so they can grow up taking the opportunities they so wish without fear of backlash.