Girls’ Education: Critically Important for Health and Empowerment
By Kathryn Krueger on July 14th, 2014
Malala Day, observed this year on July 14th, is not only a day to celebrate the incredible bravery of Malala Yousafzai – a courageous young Pakistani student who was targeted by the Taliban for her universal education and girls’ rights advocacy – Malala Day is also a day to raise our voices in support of children’s education and rights all around the world.
In the past decade, primary school enrollment has increased significantly worldwide, particularly in low-income countries, and the global gap in universal primary education for girls and boys has narrowed in recent years. More girls are in school today than ever before and the global primary school enrollment ratio of girls to boys has reached parity, with girls now representing 53% of out-of-school children. However, girls are still largely underrepresented in certain regions, like in Western Asia and Northern Africa, where girls account for 65% and 79% of out-of-school children respectively. Empowering girls requires not only investing in girls, but helping families, communities and governments to understand the value of girls.
Girls who stay in school longer are more likely to marry later and to raise smaller, healthier families. When girls are educated, they learn to value health care and education, thus seeking better opportunities for themselves and their children. Evidence suggests that children born to educated mothers are twice as likely to survive past the age of five. Education can help increase female participation in household and community decision making, the labor force, and can help stimulate greater income earning potential. The positive influence education has on girls’ and women’s health and lifelong social opportunities makes it all the more vital to promote greater female enrollment and participation in primary and secondary education worldwide.
Understanding the gender issues that influence gaps in enrollment and retention is critical to improving education for girls and boys. By evaluating gender-related barriers that affect boys’ and girls’ access, attendance, participation, and attainment in school, it makes it possible to propose interventions or modifications to existing interventions to overcome these barriers and work towards increased opportunities for boys and girls to receive a high quality education. WI-HER’s approach to gender integration utilizes culturally sensitive, innovative models and recognizes that myriad factors at multiple levels of society affect gender norms and must be addressed in concert to generate shifts in thinking. We address gender roles and relations at multiple levels and consider the varied contextual factors that drive outcomes for men and women, boys and girls.
Education is a driving force in the enhancement of girls’ and women’s health and the well-being of their families and communities. This Malala Day, we are proud to celebrate the global progress that has been made to improve education for girls and boys, but we also recognize that there is still much to be accomplished in order for quality, universal education to become a reality for all girls and boys around the world.