This marks steady progress compared to previous decades, with female literacy increasing from 30.6% in 1981 to over 70% in recent estimates, although still lagging behind male literacy levels.At the school level, gender parity has been effectively achieved from primary to senior secondary level, with the number of girls not only matching but surpassing boys in enrolment. Under the National Education Policy (NEP) framework, female enrollment at the basic, elementary, middle and secondary stages is high, while the adjusted net enrollment rate (ANER) for girls at the secondary level has also overtaken that of boys in recent years.Dropout rates for both genders have declined between 2022-23 and 2024-25, with a sharp decline in the elementary and middle stages, although dropouts are comparatively higher in the secondary stage.Gradually the trend in higher education is leaning in favor of women. The female GER increased from 28.5% to 30.2% between 2021-22 and 2022-23, compared to a smaller increase from 28.3% to 28.9% for men. Women now form a marginal majority among the total passing students, with particularly high representation at advanced levels such as MPhil (76.14%), and more than half of those completing graduation and post-graduation.However, participation remains uneven across disciplines. Women are concentrated in arts, science, social sciences and medical streams, while men dominate in engineering, technology, IT and management, reflecting a persistent divide in career paths.Learning results show a mixed pattern. Girls consistently outperform boys in languages ​​and board exam passing percentage, while boys perform better in mathematics, especially in the higher grades. At the same time, women’s participation in higher education has now reached more than half of total enrollments in many subjects, indicating wider access, even if subject choices remain skewed.Despite improvements in access and participation, structural deficiencies remain. The average years of schooling for women is 7.4 years, while the overall average is 8.4 years, indicating an earlier decline in educational attainment. Spending patterns also show inequality, with the average annual expenditure of boys being higher (Rs 13,901) than that of girls (Rs 12,101), pointing to a persistent gap in investment at the household level.