Gender gaps in upper-secondary education persist alongside inequalities in access to digital technology.

Today, 119.3 million girls are out of school, down from 124.7 million in 2015. Between 2022 and 2023, the proportion of young women aged 15 to 24 not in education, employment or training (NEET) declined from 29.1 per cent to 28.1 per cent, reducing the gender gap by only 0.7 percentage points. While gender gaps have closed at all levels of education globally, upper-secondary disparities remain concerning in three of eight regions. In sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand), upper-secondary out-of-school rates were 48 per cent and 27 per cent for girls compared to 44 per cent and 22 per cent for boys. Girls from the poorest households are most disadvantaged in all regions. Some countries have almost no poor young women attending school at any level.

Central and Southern Asia has made significant progress in closing gender gaps in lower-secondary education through midday meal programmes, advocacy for girls’ education and India’s Right to Education Act. Social norms, unpaid care and domestic work, and early marriage, however, still limit the chances that girls will reach and stay in school, particularly upper-secondary education. In Latin America and the Caribbean and Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, reverse gender gaps favour girls by 2 percentage points. These shortfalls also require attention as underachievement in schooling can increase risky behaviours for boys.

Increased access to upper-secondary education, especially in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) can create huge opportunities for young women and girls and boost economic development. In leading economies, women currently make up only 26 per cent of the workforce in data and artificial intelligence and 12 per cent in cloud computing. Doubling the share of women in the tech workforce would not only provide opportunities for high-paid decent jobs, it could also increase the tech sector’s GDP by €600 billion by 2027.

Upper-secondary out-of-school rates, by sex, 2024 (percentage)