l’Etat dans l’exercise de sa fonction’) and subsequently refused reinstatement in their jobs upon release from prison, with the justification that they had deserted their posts, was examined by the Human Rights Committee. The Committee has affirmed that ‘the freedom to engage in political activity individually or through political parties, freedom to debate public affairs, to criticise the Government and to publish material with political content’ applies to university teachers, whether they are part of the public service or not. 25 The teaching profession is affected by various types of gender imbalance. Among primary-school teachers, female teachers are a small proportion in some countries while a vast majority in others, as illustrated in Table 4. These two extremes highlight the necessity of adaptability: many international and domestic policies have been developed to increase the number of female teachers, but few to address the other extreme. There are few countries in the world that have established a policy of gender balance, namely the objective that the representation of one sex should not exceed 40% without corrective measures being triggered off. Table 4 shows that women constitute more than two-thirds or even more than four-fifths of primary school teachers in some countries. The risk of perpetuating their marginalization rather than promoting equality was noted forty years, in the very first report on discrimination in education within the United Nations. The Report summarized reasons for women forming the majority of teachers in primary school as ‘the idea than women are particularly well suited to teach young children, the fact that teaching offers an outlet to women to whom many other careers remain closed, and the fact that men are attracted towards better paid professions.’26 26 25 Human Rights Committee – Adimayo M. Aduayom, Sofianou T. Diasso and Yawo S. Dobou v. Togo, Communications No. 422/1990, 423/1990, and 424/1990, Views of 12 July 1996. United Nations – Study of Discrimination in Education by Charles Ammoun, Special Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/181/Rev. 1, Sales No. 1957.XIV.3, New York, August 1957, p. 43. Right to Education Primers No. 3 25