Introduction to Global Issues #4: Girls’ Education — How to Help

After addressing the major benefits of girls’ education (among them reducing poverty and preventing thousands of cases of HIV), I will now cover several ways that governments and individuals can help.

Despite the known benefits associated with educating girls, girls only receive less than two cents of every dollar given for foreign aid, according to Girl Effect. Right now, programs that focus on keeping adolescents in school are not effectively reaching girls; for example, many youth centers in Africa that encourage education are mostly used by boys – they aren’t reaching the most vulnerable demographic of teenage girls.

Girls are often prevented from completing their primary and secondary education by such constraints as: having not enough money to pay for school, societal beliefs that girls do not need an education (because it is believed that women are not equal to men), family need for the girl to earn an income and/or take care of her siblings, and lack of resources at school that would cater to the needs of females– for example, some schools lack latrines, making it very difficult for girls who have reached puberty to go to school when she is on her period; the days she misses takes a toll on her education and most girls who face this situation end up dropping out of school.

Organizations such as the Girl Effect are working to reverse this trend by working with impoverished communities to change the mindset that girls are dispensable. Girls at risk of not completing their education are identified, given identity documents, and provided a “safe space”—complete with a peer mentor—to complete their homework and learn about protecting themselves in their society.

Image courtesy of NGOabroad.com

There are other inexpensive methods for governments to ensure better-quality education—and access to education—for girls. A Harvard economist found that student test scores in Kenya increased the most when the girls who had scored in the top 15 percent of their sixth-grade class exams were offered a $19 scholarship for seventh and eighth grade. (This had the unexpected benefit of raising boys’ test performance as well, probably as a result of a competition of pride with the girls.) Aid workers are also endeavoring to build toilets and provide sanitary supplies to girls at school.

Girls around the world must be given more opportunities to obtain a quality education if we expect to address major global social and economic issues facing us today. It isn’t enough just to throw money at the problem and walk away, though. Dr. Nicholas Kristof, author of Half the Sky, writes in the New York Times Magazine article “Women’s Crusade“:

There are many metaphors for the role of foreign assistance. For our part, we like to think of aid as a kind of lubricant, a few drops of oil in the crankcase of the developing world, so that gears move freely again on their own.

Kristof contends that “a bit of help where and when it counts most” — in other words, keeping the focus on encouraging women and telling them that their goals are achievable, rather than forcing them to follow preconceived paths — is the best way to approach educating a woman. A little assistance, financial or otherwise, can go a long way.

To learn more about how you can help as an individual, visit http://girleffect.org/give.

Sources

“The Women’s Crusade“, New York Times Magazine
“So Much Yet to Learn about Girls’ Education“, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
“The Girl Effect: Your Move“, Girl Effect
“Girls Count: A Global Investment and Action Agenda“, Coalition for Adolescent Girls