Audrey Azoulay calls for greater global investment in girls’ and women’s education

Beijing – Thursday, in Beijing, Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, co-chaired the award ceremony of the 2023 UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education with Professor Peng Liyuan, UNESCO Special Envoy. On this occasion, she called for a “stepping up of global investment for girls and women’s access to education”.

“In 1995, in Beijing, the international community adopted the UN Declaration and Platform for Action for women’s rights. Since then, significant progress has been made in the field of education. Today 90% of girls worldwide complete primary school and more than 40% of women have access to higher education. This momentum must continue because gender equality in education is not yet a reality. Today, two-thirds of illiterate adults in the world are women,” said Audrey Azoulay.

Each year, the UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education, created in 2015 and supported by China, rewards projects that contribute to addressing this challenge. The two 2023 laureates recommended by an international jury of experts are the Star Schools programme (Pakistan) and the Spring Bud project (China).

The project in Pakistan guarantees girls’ education in emergency situations. It benefits more than 540,000 girls from minorities, including Afghan and Rohingya refugees, and also those affected by natural disasters like the 2022 floods. The project in China supports quality education for 4 million adolescent girls, across 56 ethnic groups, in 31 provinces.

During her visit to China, Audrey Azoulay also had a meeting with President Xi Jinping. He reaffirmed China’s commitment to supporting the mandate of UNESCO and to working in consensus with all Member States of the Organization.

The Director-General of UNESCO also visited two World Heritage sites: the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian. Over the past three years, UNESCO has supported the production of a Chinese-French documentary dedicated to Peking Man which highlights the importance of the archeological discoveries made on this site. The documentary is currently being distributed around the world.