in tanzania for example there is evidence that higher female adult illiteracy rates correlate with the tendency of parents to devalue educating their daughters thus perpetuating the cycle of illiteracy and lack of schooling for girls unesco as the world bank points out in its world development report on gender equality families in many societies still send their sons to school before their daughters in part as a rational response to markets and institutions that value men over women world bank these same norms can get in the way of girls being able to establish relationships with peers and older mentors role models who are critical to them being able to navigate their teen and young adult years austrian for boys having to conform to norms of being real men can lead to behaviours that are detrimental to themselves and girls