Why is the world so afraid of educating girls?  It is important for everyone to receive an education so that they are able to contribute socially, politically, economically to their countries and their families. Yet, in some countries in some parts of the world girls still are not receiving the same opportunity for education as their male counterparts. Their right to education is not being fulfilled or prioritized. There are many positive benefits that come from education like the ones previously named, but despite there being positive benefits there are still obstacles that are keeping girls from being educated including monetary, religious, and cultural factors. Sometimes girls are stopped by their own families from fulfilling these rights. The right to education is a universal human right and many countries have adopted it as such, but there are still some countries that have not and those that have not are withholding something of value from their girls. As westerners we can do many things to help girls in other countries who do not have the same resources as us. How does education benefit an individual, their families, and countries? What is stopping girls from getting an education? What can we in the Western world do to help? Each of these questions will be introduced and answered in depth in the following paper. Each is an important piece of a puzzle that has yet to be completed.

 

There are many positive benefits that come from the education of girls in developing countries that have far reaching effects on the girls, their families, communities, and countries as well.  The United Nations Girls Education Initiative, or UNGEI, is an organization backed by the United Nations that was started in 2000 to support developing countries in their efforts to provide education and encourage gender equality. The organization makes the claim that educating girls is a guaranteed way to “raise economic productivity, lower infant and maternal mortality, improve nutritional status and health, reduce poverty, and wipe out HIV/AIDS and other diseases.”  One may ask: why is education the key factor in this? It may seem like these ideas are basic knowledge to people who live in more developed countries, but an uneducated woman is not going to know the importance of immunizations, nutrition and sanitation, or when it is necessary to get medical help. When women are educated about their health it has a large impact on the well-being of their families and can improve their lives at home. Infant and maternal mortality rates will become lower because instead of only being a mother, the girls will have other educational and career goals and opportunities which means they will delay having children. Statistics from UNGEI show that one year of schooling for a female reduces fertility by 10% and that babies born when a female is older will be healthier. Educated women will have a more equal role in their household and will be able to contribute to their family’s income and their country’s economy. One of the most important things that comes from girls’ education is knowledge about their sexual health. In an article about HIV/AIDs the World Health Organization states that over 95% of HIV infections occur in developing countries. In 2007 AIDS was a leading cause of death in Africa. When girls educated on these subjects become older they will be “less likely to be vulnerable toward sexual abuse or exploitation, which will protect them against sexually-transmitted infections, such as HIV/AIDS” (UNGEI). The positive repercussions are obvious. Better protection against sexually transmitted infections means better health not only for both men and women, but children as well who can become infected during or before birth. This would mean lower mortality rates due to HIV/AIDS. 

Despite education being important girls who would like to attend school are faced with many obstacles when trying to get one. The main problem is poverty. School is not free in many places and many schools require a payment of some kind, usually for books, exams, uniforms, building funds or other contributions to the school. In poor families where parents cannot afford to send all of their children to school the girls are usually the first to be sat out from attending for several reasons. In Poverty, Education, and Development, Dr. Francis Godwyll, a professor at the University of West Florida, talks about how even if a family invests in their daughter’s education it is sometimes thought that that investment in her will be lost when she is married off. Therefore, it sometimes is not worth it for the family to spend money on her education. 

There are also cultural reasons that limit girls’ educational opportunities. Traditionally girls are the ones who help with taking care of siblings and do the cooking or cleaning. In some places girls help their mothers sell products on the street or in a market while their mothers do domestic work. If those girls went to school instead of worked then the family’s income would decrease. It would only make life harder for the mother if she lost this help from her daughters. There are roles that girls are “supposed” to have and roles that boys are “supposed” to have and when people adhere to these rigid cultural views girls are not given the same opportunities as boys.

Problems can also arise when religion becomes involved. Religion is very influential in some places and beliefs play a strong role in people’s lives. Unfortunately, “[i]n some countries where the majority of the population is Muslim, scriptural misinterpretation may also contribute to the constraints on female education (Godwyll and Kang, 139).” In Senegal there is a saying that a women’s role is “at her husband’s feet.” When women are told that the only way for them to go to heaven is to play their role and be a good wife and mother in a place where they may not have strong, empowered women to look up to, they might believe that that is their only choice in life. Women are again forced to mold themselves and conform to the role that is being set out for them. Because society has low expectations of them some women do not think that they can do the same things as men, have the same jobs, and excel in the same subjects, especially in the areas of science and technology. Godwyll writes that, “societal attitudes create serious obstacles to females’ learning and educational pursuits; limits their career chances…” 

How can a girl want to go to school and be excited about getting an education when she does not feel safe in her school environment? Eve Danzeisen, is an activist, actress, writer, and director who has degrees from Sarah Lawrence College and The Old Globe. In her article she writes about how educating girls about puberty and their menstruation can help keep them in school. In a lot of places girls are not taught about what is happening to their bodies. There is a shame and stigma that comes with being a girl during puberty. Danzeisen says that, “in many countries, menstruation is considered taboo and dirty…[s]ome don’t know what the purpose of menstruation is and are completely unaware of it until they have their first period.” In her article Danzeisen also talks about how girls sometimes must share bathrooms with boys or do not have clean places to deal with their periods. When girls do not go to school because they do not have the proper knowledge about their periods or sanitary conditions for it there is a problem. In 2012, Leymah Gbowee, a peace activist, Nobel laureate, and civil rights leader in Liberia, gave a TED talk titled, “The Importance of Educating Girls.” She gave several reasons for why girls sometimes cannot go to school including war and poverty. Another very shocking reason was sexual abuse and exploitation. Gbowee talked about one nineteeen-year-old girl who earned a full ride to college to support her siblings after her parents died. She was smart, and athletic, and excited about her opportunity, but on the first day the man responsible for giving her the scholarship calls her out of class “and for the next three years her fate will be having sex with him every day as a favor for getting her into the program.” Certainly, cases like these would present themselves as an obstacle, a barrier that is set between a girl and her education. 

In the Western world education is mostly a given. There are free public schools all the way up through high school and there is government assistance available if a person wants to continue their schooling, but do not have the money to do so. Developing countries do not always have this luxury. Education is supposed to be a universal human right, so why are there still people who are not receiving one? If the right to education is important to you and you believe that you have a right to receive one then you must believe everyone has the right to receive one. If you believe that everyone has a right to an education, but girls in some places still are not getting theirs then there is a problem in our world. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is “a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.” It contains thirty articles which declare the basic human rights that we as people are thought to share. These standards were proclaimed in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly. The General Assembly created this document with the idea that these rights should be upheld and respected for every single person in society in the world. Article 26 of the UDHR declares three things of education: 

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Whether girls deserve the right to education is hardly debatable. The question we should be asking is why all girls are not already receiving one. Point one of the UDHR states that everyone has the right to education and that it should be free at the lowest levels, but if this were true then poverty would not be an impediment. It also maintains that higher education should be equally accessible to all, but this is still not the case. Another organization also founded by the United Nations in 2000 is the Right to Education which discusses education as a human right on its website. A notable quote headlines the top of the page: “Education is not a privilege. It is a human right.” The problem in some countries is that they are not doing enough to help their girls fulfill this right. It is true that not every country has signed this document or was a part of creating it, but the initiative was created to help eliminate this problem from our world.  The Right to Education website states that “the right to education is legally guaranteed for all without any discrimination, [but also that] whilst the vast majority of countries have ratified international treaties that recognize the full right to education, it is still denied to millions around the world due to lack of resources, capacity, and political will.” While a country’s lack of resources and capacity are mostly understandable reasons for not being able to uphold Article 26, lack of political will is not. Political will is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as political intention or desire; specifically, the firm intention or commitment on the part of a government to carry through a policy. Girls are being deprived of their basic human rights because the governments of their countries lack intention and commitment their educations. How are we still allowing this? It is 2017, a government should be doing everything that it can to advance the people that live under it, it should not be another factor that keeps girls from reaching their full potential. 

That being said, if a government cannot or will not work to help there are several ways that people who do have the resources and funds to contribute to the advancement of education for girls in developing countries can. First, they can increase awareness about the right to education because an individual is more likely to claim their rights if they know about them (Right to Education). Second, they can promote and push for the state to enforce the full right to education. Third, one can help create a safe learning environment for these girls by supporting organizations such as Let Girls Learn, an initiative founded by Michelle and Barak Obama in 2015, which works with the United States government to help “foster an enabling environment for adolescent girls’ education” (Let Girls Learn). Other organizations include Aid For Africa, For Her, Girl Rising and Peace Corps’ Let Girls Learn Fund. Each of these organizations is a movement focused on empowering girls through education in order to break the cycle of poverty and better their lives. Finally, donations are always welcome and are probably the easiest way to help, but there are always a number of other ways to show support. Camfed is an international non-profit that is focused on fighting poverty and inequality for girls and women in sub-Saharan Africa though education. Its website lists fundraising, participating in events such as a sponsored mud run, sending an eCard, corporate partnerships, and even leaving a gift in a will as ways that one can contribute. Each of these is a way that we can help and since our government already has organizations in place we must bring awareness to them and support them as well. That is the only way we will be able to guarantee education for every girl around the world.

In conclusion, education is a fundamentally important for the advancement of the developing world. It can be used as a tool for empowering women in a place where they might not have any authority. Education can also help break the cycle of poverty and provide knowledge about health-related issues which can all positively impact the life of a girl and her current and future family. There are many factors that are hinderances when it comes to girls obtaining an education, such as poor conditions in schools, poverty, and traditional gender roles. However, education is a basic human right and everyone deserves an equal opportunity to receive one which is why it is so important for us to fight for girls’ rights especially when they cannot speak out, or do not know that they can speak out for themselves. It is up to us do everything that we can because we can. 
