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130,000,000 girls. 130,000,000 girls who don’t have access to school. 130,000,000 girls who can’t even read the words on this page. 130,000,000 girls with no chance. 130,000,000 girls left behind ('Gender Inequality Is Keeping Girls Out of School'). Do you sense a problem? In our evolving world, uneducated people are at a catastrophic disadvantage.
Without literacy, a woman cannot earn a steady income. For generations, women have been denied their fundamental right to education. This illiteracy perpetuates the cycle of poverty. There are a frightening number of reasons why girls are denied education, but there are an equal amount of ways that these problems can be tackled. Our world needs women’s education just as much as women do. Women’s education is the first step to creating a world where all people are treated as equals.
Young girls in developing countries are forced into marriage against their will. Across the globe, approximately 15 million female children are married. In Niger alone, 76% of women under the age of 18 are married. When a person gets married, they are forced to drop out of school to serve their family ('13 Reasons Why Girls Are Not in School on International Day of the Girl Child'). According to Borgen Magazine, providing education to girls in South and West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa would decrease child marriage by 64 percent (Johnson, 2018).
Parents fear for their daughters’ lives at school ('13 Reasons Why Girls Are Not in School on International Day of the Girl Child'). This is because cultural groups exist in the Middle East, such as the Taliban, who strongly oppose female education rights. Malala Yousafzai was born in the Swat Valley of Pakistan. She loved to learn, but when the Taliban took over her town, they took away female education rights. Malala refused to quit school. Because of this, the Taliban attempted to kill her. Thankfully, they were unsuccessful. Now Malala is one of the most well-known advocates for women’s education ('Malala Yousafzai Biographical'). This is just one example of the violence committed against girls who seek education every day. Parents fear that if they send their beloved daughter to school, she won’t make it home that night.
Young women avoid going to school while they’re on their menstrual period because most school bathrooms in third-world countries are unusable. The World Health Organization, in partnership with UNICEF, determined that 620 million children don’t have access to working toilets at school. WaterAid and UNICEF estimate that ⅓ of girls in South Asia are forced to skip school during their periods because they don’t have access to toilets or soap to use after changing pads and tampons (Gulland, 2018). Girls also fear public humiliation at school while they’re on their period. In most Middle Eastern countries, being on one's period is frowned upon, despite the fact that it is a natural life process that all women experience.
Women in developing countries avoid attending school because of a common fear - of sexual harassment. At the University of Liberia, there is a concept called 'transactional sex', more commonly referred to as 'Sex 101', which means having sex with teachers to get good grades. 85% of female students at this university claim to have been sexually harassed or forced into transactional sex, and if they were to protest, they would be failed (Ford, 2013). This is despicable. Grown men, and professors even, take advantage of female students every day.
Though many Middle Eastern cultures deem teen pregnancy appropriate, when a young woman has a baby, she has no choice but to drop out of school to care for it. As presented by the World Health Organization, 16 million minor-aged girls give birth every year ('13 Reasons Why Girls Are Not in School on International Day of the Girl Child'). In Tanzania, 6% of girls are forced to drop out of school every year due to pregnancy, earning the top spot on the list of reasons why females drop out of school in this country.
Some people might believe that there are bigger issues in the world than women’s education, but there are precious lives at stake. An African proverb states: “If we educate a boy, we educate one person. If we educate a girl, we educate a family – and a whole nation”. If a mother attends school, she will likely want her child to attend school, but if she doesn’t go to school, there’s a significant chance that her child will die before even reaching school age. According to the Girls Global Education Fund, if a child’s mother is uneducated, there is a 20% chance that they won’t live until their 5th birthday (Madu, 2013). If every woman was educated, child deaths would decrease by 50%. UNESCO, a global organization, has determined that providing every woman with a secondary education would protect 12 million children from malnutrition ('Why Girls: The Importance of Girls’ Education').
Although some extremists may believe that educating women would be costly, and yes, it will take some government funding, educating women not only pulls families out of poverty, but it also enhances the economy. In fact, once a girl completes a year of secondary education, their salary can increase by 25% (Gutterman, 2018). In Pakistan, literate women earn 95% more than illiterate women (Bourne, 2014).
Fortunately, there’s an abundance of solutions to this problem. The first step to getting all girls the education they deserve is, like most problems, simply bringing awareness to the issue. Once society realizes that there is a problem, people can take the necessary measures to vanquish it. The government can provide scholarships for girls to attend schools. They can build more schools within communities so that all girls can safely get to and from school each and every day. Governments can also pass laws to end child marriage once and for all.
Once girls make it to the classroom, there are things that need to be done to ensure that women’s education is successful and continues indefinitely. In Jamaica, there are programs called 'early childhood development programs' (or 'ECD programs), that teach children life skills from a young age. A study showed that by the 20th year of ECD programming in Jamaica, salaries increased by 42% (Lundberg, 2014). It is also imperative that there is extensive sexual health education so women can learn how to avoid pregnancy at a young age. Finally, school should be a happy place for girls. This can be achieved by ensuring that there are both male and female teachers trained to be 'gender-sensitive', promoting safety and decreasing violence, providing private restrooms, and allowing girls to get involved in sports and other extracurriculars at school.
By now it should be clear; there is a problem. Women need to be educated not only because it is their right, but because the world will be a better place once all people are literate and capable of success. It is going to take dedication and money, but the benefits outweigh the costs. Only with brain power comes girl power.
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