Making gender equality in education count: improving data for global change

Grand Challenge: Data-empowered Societies and Justice and Equality

Ensuring that all children, regardless of gender, have the opportunity to learn and thrive remains a significant global challenge. UCL Institute of Education’s pioneering Accountability for Gender Equality in Education (AGEE) project is grounded in over a decade of rigorous interdisciplinary research in Africa, Asia and Latin America and has profoundly shifted the ways in which data are collected and used to inform gender equality policy and practice. 

By involving communities, educators, policymakers and civil society, the project, led by a research team at the Centre for Education and International Development (Department of Education, Practice and Society, UCL Institute of Education) has built a global community dedicated to advancing gender equality in education and supports UCL Grand Challenges themes: Data-Empowered Societies and Justice and Equality. 

Shifting the focus from ‘parity’ to inequality 

Traditionally, equality indicators in education will focus on gender parity: comparing numbers of girls and boys in education. AGEE critiques this narrow view, and introduces a more comprehensive framework that considers deeper, systemic inequalities and how these impact on gender equality in and through education. The framework has been built over many years, through participatory methods at local, national and international levels. 

Rather than focusing solely on gender equality in terms of numbers of girls compared to boys accessing or completing schooling, the AGEE Framework addresses factors like access, progression, attainment and the influence of intersecting inequalities within and across diverse contexts. 

The domains cover: Resources; Values; Opportunities; Participation in Education; Knowledge, Understanding, and Skills; and Outcomes. Together, these provide much more detailed information on the causes of gender inequality in schools and how gender equality in and through education can be supported, enabling a more reliable measure of progress within and across education systems. The Framework’s inherent flexibility ensures indicators and associated data are contextually relevant and practically useful for holding governments and institutions accountable for commitments to gender equality in education. 

Materially improving gender equality 

AGEE’s innovative tools and unique participatory approach have significantly impacted global efforts to redefine and improve data and measurement processes supporting gender equality. By identifying areas where support is needed, delivery on the ground can be appropriately targeted. The Framework and associated Cross-National Indicator Dashboard have directly informed the work of governments and international organisations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 

For instance, UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report (2017, 2018) has adapted the Framework for use in reporting on progress on gender equality in education; UNESCO’s Global Accountability Dashboard (EGER 2025, UNESCO, 2025), established in 2023 following the UN’s Transforming Education Summit, brings together data and evidence from a wide range of partners to monitor progress and drive action on gender equality and education. 

In addition, the United Nation’s Girls Education Initiative’s Gender Equality in Education (UNGEI) Snapshot tool for assessment and planning for gender equality in education was developed from the Framework and has been used in training for government officials in eight African countries, the African Development Bank and UN Women, while the United Nations Commission for Economic Development in Africa (UNECA) used the Framework at the Africa Gender Statistics Forum (2024). 

To date, AGEE has consulted through workshops, webinars, interviews and surveys with over 1,000 stakeholders, including government ministers, civil society representatives, academics, activists and students from over 50 countries. The AGEE website further enables AGEE’s work to reach a global audience, with over 2.4K active website users across 137 countries visiting the site over the past year. 

AGEE’s impact on global education policy, particularly in relation to UNESCO’s GEM report, UNESCO’s Global Platform for Gender Equality in and through Education, and the third annual G7 Global Objectives Report, has helped advance delivery on the Sustainable Development Goals and facilitate extensive public engagement. This is a huge contribution to global efforts to identify systemic barriers to and within education, and use data to ensure more thoughtful, appropriate and sustainable change. As part of the Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) Bridging AGEE project, in partnership with UNESCO, the governments of Malawi, Indonesia and Kenya are working with the AGEE project to support sub-national level planning about gender equality in and through education.

Related links

• Grand Challenge: Data-empowered Societies
• Grand Challenge: Inequalities (previously Justice and Equality)
• Accountability for Gender Equality in Education (AGEE) research project
• Accountability for Gender Equality in Education (AGEE) website
• Centre for Education and International Development
• Department of Education, Practice and Society