English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

CEDAW and the Law:
Article 14(3) states that men and women are equal in accessing and benefiting from
the policies on education, training, and fostering of professional knowledge and
skills;
Article 40(4)(b) prohibits agitating or forcing people to leave school on account of
gender;
Article 40(4)(c) forbids refusing to enroll those that are qualified for training and
fostering courses on account of their gender, including for reasons of pregnancy,
raising newborns and children;
Article 14(5)(a) places responsibility on the State to provide for the proportion of men
and women participating in the study and training as one of the measures to promote
equality.
Although the Law on Education provides equality of learning opportunities, the rest of
its provisions are gender-neutral and make no specific references to girls or women. Hence,
the Law on Gender Equality provides the much-needed gender focus for the Law on
Education. Nevertheless, the specific stipulations on equal access to education in the Law on
Gender Equality are very limited. Article 14(1) of the Law on Gender Equality only provides
that the age of access to education must be equal, without stipulating that conditions and other
qualifications for entry must also be the same. However, Article 14(3) of the Law on Gender
Equality may be given an expansive interpretation to allow it to address wider access issues,
such as conditions or qualifications for entry, reduction of drop-out rates, equal enrolment and
completion rates. The Law on Gender Equality forbids non-enrolment or expulsion on account
of pregnancy and maternity, but not on account of sexual orientation or marital status.
It is also obvious that there are courses that are considered traditionally for ‘men only’
or ‘women only’. There are also courses that are dominated by males or females respectively.
Article 14(2) of the Law on Gender Equality seeks to address this, however, by temporary
special measures such as targeted recruitment, which may be useful to elicit more enrolments
of the non-traditional or non-dominant sex.
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It is often argued that, as the Law on Education already has a general guarantee of
equality, there is no need for further legislation on the matter. However, implementation of
gender equality requires guidance; hence, the Law on Gender Equality, as well as legal
documents on the Law on Education, must be able to elaborate further on what are
discriminatory practices in education and ways to address them.
Recommendation: It is suggested that supporting legal documents to the Law on
Gender Equality and Law on Education: (a) provide not only equal age of entry for
schooling, training and fostering courses, but also equal conditions or qualifications of
entry as well; (b) guarantee equality further in choosing a profession and occupation for
learning and training, such as by stipulating that equal conditions for career and
vocational guidance free from gender discrimination and stereotypes; and (c) put in place
temporary special measures, such as targeted recruitment, to enable interest and access
to courses that are traditionally the realm of either sex or is dominated by either sex.
It is also recommended that an explicit guarantee of non-discrimination in
education on account of sexual orientation and marital status be also legislated.
Review of key legal documents and compliance with CEDAW