Gender Equity in Education: Helping the Boys Catch Up

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The paper argues that the Philippines needs a more nuanced view of gender equality. Historically, Filipino males were somewhat more educated than females. Now, the males are lagging behind the females and the education gender gap is widening. This reversal was already predictable in the 70s before it manifested itself in national statistics. The paper also argues that today, gender equality advocacy should go beyond the stereotypical focus on girls' education and pay more attention to issues that are hurting boys' education. Failure to pursue win-win strategies to address gender bias in education working against boys will mean that the country is foregoing valuable opportunities to raise equity and economic returns to its investment in education. To conclude, the paper suggests some experiments to deepen the current understanding of boys' educational issues and develop tools to effectively remove existing impediments to schooling and learning.