Topic: Access to Education for Girls
Country: France
Delegate Name: Anastasia Pacifico
School: Royal Oak High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All France position papers GLIMUN 2012 committees
By 2015, the UN Millenium development goals (MDGs), including universal education and gender equality, are supposed to be accomplished. 2015 is quickly approaching but these goals will not be accomplished without additional resources and creative financing. For example, France has created a financial transaction tax that can be used to fund progress towards these goals. A few european countries have also agreed to this tax, and France encourages all other willing and able nations to follow suit.
Once we have the proper funding, the question presented before us is, with this money, how can we actually carry out these goals and make education more accessible for girls?
In sub-saharan Africa, 15-25% of girls don’t have access to secondary school. France has donated 3.27 million euros to educational programs for these girls, but money is only one step in providing access to education. It is our duty, as the United Nations, to ensure that each nation is carrying out their responsibility to their constituents whether that be by providing resources to developing nations or allowing NGOs and regional bodies to intervene and correctly carry out policy.
French Minister, Colette Codaccioni, says “equal access to education…is first and foremost a matter of freedom” France, as a member of the European Union, supports their six goals for carrying out gender equality: creating equal economic independence, reconciliation of private and professional life, equal representation in decision-making, eliminating gender-based violence, eliminating gender stereotypes, and promoting gender equality in third countries. Our committee will only succeed when all of these six categories are addressed. France encourages the international community to look to France and the EU as a model for gender equality in education. Only after women have equal access to education can economic and social development flourish.
