THE NEEDS: EDUCATION

Need #4: Equal Education for Women

In families that don't have money to send all their children to school, parents will make sure the boys get an education first. For example, if a school charges for books or admission, and the family doesn't have much money, they will send the boys in the family to school first. Out of the 300 million children in the world who do not have access to an education, 200 million are girls. In Yemen, for example, twenty percent of students were females and ninety-two percent of women over 25 can't read (Meroff 55-56). Even if a girl is able to go to school, she may be forced to leave to get married, do chores or make money for the family.

Even if she is exceptionally bright, if the family begins to suffer economically they may pull her out to save money and may even sell her or marry her off to save themselves the cost of feeding her. Or a daughter may feel it is necessary to find work to help her parents through their financial crisis. For example, Srey Rath of Cambodia, traveled to Thailand when she was promised a job as a dishwasher (Kristof xi). Girls are often promised jobs in locations far away from their families, which end up being a trap. I will cover more on this practice in Need #1. This works in a circular motion against women. They are denied education so they can't get work, so they can't pay for their daughters to get an education. Although there are still high numbers of illiterate men across the world, it is much easier for men to exit this cycle by engaging in physical labor, plus they can make more by doing the same amount of work as women and they are more likely to be sent to school than their sisters. This reinforces the belief that men are better than women.

Help On The Way:

When it comes to education, there are organizations that are working to provide schools, as well as perform initiative programs, or bribes, to get girls to go to and stay in school. In 1993, Ann Cotton started the Campaign for Female Education, also called Camfed. According to their webpage, “Camfed has fought poverty and AIDS by educating girls and empowering young women. More than 645,400 children in impoverished areas of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana and Malawi have benefited from our innovative education programs.” Their results show that the girls they educate are likely to make up to 25 percent more money and invest ninety percent of it into her family, making Camfed's work a circle of empowerment for women.

What Do You Think?

Works cited:

Campaign for Female Education, www.camfed.org

Kristof, Nicholas and Sheryl Wudunn. Half the Sky. New York: Knopf, 2009.

Meroff, Deborah. True Grit: Women Taking on the World, for Christ's Sake. City: Authentic Media, 2004.