Joy Cowan
Professor Rodacker
EMLS B50
30 April 2018
W.C: 963
Empowering Women’s and Girl’s Education
Why is women’s education crucial for women’s empowerment? Education is very important in women’s empowerment because when women are educated, the world will become a better place. When women are educated, their families are healthier; they have fewer children, more chances to bring income to the family, and they can contribute to further economic progress in the world. There are a lot of girls and women who do not go to school because of inequality right of education, poverty, early marriages, and gender- based violence against girls and women. To solve these problems, government must encourage girls and women to go to school and offer equal access to education.
We can’t deny the fact that until now, there are some countries that have inequality right to education. According to the article entitled “Right to Educate”, it says that there are 263 million children and youth are out of school and that is 19% of all girls and 18% of all boys. There are 61 million children are out of school at the primary level and 32.1 million are girls. For example, in Sub-Saharan Africa; there are 21% of children are out of school and 23% of girls do not go to school compared to those of 19% boys. Moreover, in Western Asia; there are 20% of adolescent girls remain rejected from lower secondary education compared to 13% of boys. The rate female out of school is 36% compared to 32% for males in sub-Saharan Africa. In Caucasus, Southern Asia, Central Asia, Western Asia, Central Asia, and sub- Saharan Africa, girls are also more likely to be excluded from upper secondary education. Inequality right of education is everywhere,
and mostly girls and women are affected to it.
Poverty is one of the main reasons why girls and women do not go to school. According to the article entitled “Right to Educate”, it says that the Global Education Monitoring reported that children from the rich families are most likely attend all levels of basic education. However, in Northern Africa, Western Asia, and Southern Asia girls from poor families are less likely to attend school than boys and this lack of cooperation increases at higher education levels. Children from poor families cannot afford to pay for their education, and that is why they are not able to go to school.
Early marriage is another reason why some girls and women couldn’t go to school. Mostly, children who drop out of school are those involve in early marriage, and children who do not to school are more likely get married, and they lost the privilege to go to school.
In the article entitled “Right to Educate”, it says that statistics from the World Bank and International Center for Research on Women reveals that 10-30% of parents, depending on country, reported that their student dropped out of school because of child marriage. Also, in their investigation shows that for every year a girl marries before the age of 18. Furthermore, in Latin America and Asia, girls who marry before the age of 12 have a reduced likelihood of 21% of completing their secondary education. Early
marriages happen everywhere, and this must be stop so that girls and women have a privilege to
go to school and have an education.
Another reason why girls or women do not go to school because of gender-based violence against girls, for example, domestic violence, rape, sexual assault and harassment can keep girls out of schools temporarily or permanently. Evidence gathered by the World Bank Group shows that in Nicaragua, 63% of the children of abused women had to repeat a school year and dropped out of school on average four years earlier than others (“Right to Educate”).
. Girls and women who experienced gender- based violence were found to have more difficulty concentrating on their studies, and that is why they will drop out of school.
To solve all these problems, the government must recognize the equal right to
quality education for everyone and commit to achieve gender equality in education because as Sandberg says, that education is for all (13). In addition, the government must have legal and policy frameworks in place to make free education specially to those children who are poor, or to those families that their income is very low. Furthermore, those countries that allow early marriages must eliminate early marriages and enforce a minimum age of marriage to protect the children from early marriages. Also, the government must protect the children from gender- based violence. In other words, the government must make the public and private institution safe for children and have security against violence.
To sum up, if girls and women have proper education, then they will have access to more opportunities, and they will know how to defend themselves. Education helps people become aware of problems in society and social evils. Receiving an education has many benefits and can help boost one’s confidence when they know that they have the ability to do whatever it is that they desire. It is time to focus on the millions of girls around the world who unfortunately do not have access to education and take the steps necessary to change their lives and their countries’ futures because when girls and women are educated, the countries become stable and more successful.
Works Cited
Sandberg, Sheryl and Scovell, Nell. Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf Publisher, 2013.
“Right to Education”. Right to Education Initiative, GreenNet, 2018, http:/www.right-to-
education.org/issue-page/marginalized-groups/girls-women. 11 April 2018.
Clinton. Calls for More Education for Women And Girls. Africa News Service, 26 May
2011. Opposing Viewpoints In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/A257389274/
OVIC?u=bcgvdbl_main;sid=OVIC;xid=70c56e79. Accessed 11 Apr. 2018.
