Two days ago marked exactly one year since Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking out in support of girls’ education. A year later and Yousafzai is not only surviving but thriving. She has become a global activist for girls’ education. Her courage is to be hugely admired and today, on International Day of the Girl Child, prompts us to think about the situation for the millions of girls worldwide who are unable to access education.
Globally there is a huge disparity in the level of education for girls and boys, but what is getting in the way of progress? In Afghanistan for instance, the literacy rate for young women is 18%, compared to 50% for boys. 32% of boys finish primary school, compared to only 13% of girls. While these figures for both boys and girls are concerning, it is clear that girls face particular barriers to accessing education that boys do not.
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission reports that in a survey on primary education 51.6% of parents mentioned that the main factor preventing their daughters from attending primary school is accessibility and security. This means that in many instances, it is not practical or safe for girls to attend school. Other reasons included that their daughters have to work (12.1%), that the family was too poor (10.1%) or that their daughter was already married (3.7%). Statistics from other countries tell a similar tale.
What these figures show is that we cannot improve girls’ access to education without eliminating discrimination and violence against women and girls. We cannot improve girls’ access to education without eliminating poverty. It is not enough to build schools and provide textbooks if girls are prevented from accessing them in the first place. We must eliminate the barriers preventing girls from accessing education, in order for the benefits of education to show.
We know that giving girls equal access to education is the right thing to do, but it is also the smart thing to do. When a woman receives secondary education, she is up to six times less likely to marry and have children under the age of 18. When a woman is educated, she is better able to find paid, stable work. With a stable income, her children have better health and are able to go to school themselves, instead of staying home to work or care for their siblings. Education is key to ending the cycle of poverty and violence.
UN Women works to provide women with paid, stable work so that their children can get an education, lifting that family out of desperate poverty. UN Women also provides support, education and training to survivors of violence so that they may move past the violence and support themselves and their families. Beheshta is an Afghan woman who was able to join an English language course at a UN Women sponsored ICT Centre for women. The ICT Centre provides English language and computer training and provides job placement support for women graduates. Beheshta graduated and is teaching English to new students and to members in her own community. Educating girls benefits entire communities.
It is only by tackling the many and varied forms of discrimination against women and girls that equality in education will be achieved. It is difficult work but on International Day of the Girl Child, thousands of voices around the world have indicated that we are up for the challenge.