Gender series volume II: Education and gender, 2001-2014

"South Africa has made great strides towards achieving gender equality in education. According to the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report, gender parity on all education indicators has been reached. Moreover, females make up a higher proportion of persons enrolled in secondary and tertiary level education (MDG, 2015). However, despite the noticeable progress achieved in education, gender differences and inequalities persist. This is in terms of subject preferences and performance, and in specific aspects related to the education and training experience which often result in varying social and economic gender inequalities. For example, there is a significant gap in South Africa in favour of males qualified in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, thus explaining the male dominance in STEM-related occupations such as engineers and architects. ​

Since there are many ways to look at gender and education, the primary focus of Gender Series Volume II: Education and Gender, 2004–2014​ is to assess the country’s progress towards achieving greater access and improved quality in education through a gender lens."