I will compare the World Bank recommendations on female education from their 2007 Symposium on LDCs with the social realities of urban underclass neighborhoods as described by Edin and Kefalas in their book "Promises I can Keep" (2005).
The World Bank has framed education policy as a developmental issue for LDCs. In particular, gender equality, i.e. proportional investment on educating women, is highlighted as an efficient investment offering greater returns than other popular programs and expenditures. Many experts view women as a hidden workforce, currently underutilized, but with an enormous potential to generate accelerated economic growth. Moreover, female education has a disproportionate impact on fertility rates, levels of public health and social progress.
At the World Bank symposium "Education: a critical path to gender equality and women's empowerment" (Washington D.C., U.S.A., October 2007), many suggestions were raised in the course of evidence-based discussions. The aim was to define ways and means to increase the rates of enrolment and attainment in school for young females.
In facilitating the implementation of gender equality in schooling, the experts have come across a host of issues, of which the main ones seem to be:.
__Conservative communal norms and customs leading to persistent gender discrimination.
__Safety and Security.
__Quality, i.e. Premises, Teacher Training, Classroom Atmosphere etc.
Edin and Kefalas published in 2005 the results of their extensive research amongst low income single mothers in the disadvantaged inner-city neighborhoods of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, USA). Their book represents a conscious attempt to report the typical opinions and thought processes of the real life subjects of living conditions in the urban underclass neighborhoods. Indeed, if we accept that the subculture of the "slums" is the main driver of the social exclusion and poor life prospects that the urban underclass suffers from, we must chart the system of values and shared beliefs of this underclass in order to develop the educational strategies that can effectively modify the behavior of those who perpetuate the mechanisms of social exclusion.
