ABSTRACT
UNESCO has been working on issues of equality of opportunity for many years, and several conventions and recommendations go back to the 1960s. The conventions are legal frameworks that oblige states, to a certain extent, to promote equality of opportunities and to fight against the discrimination that has historically affected girls and women alike. UNESCO’s regional action in favor of girls’ and women’s education can be seen in the light of the three following moments: the launching of the Major Project for Education; and the Regional Platform for Action for Gender Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean Region adopted in 1994 at the Sixth Conference for the Regional Integration of Women to the Economic and Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. In statistical terms the situation of girls’ education has greatly improved. The census carried out in 1980s indicated that differences in educational levels by sex essentially disappeared.
