Girls’ education in developing countries is proving to be an important factor in improving these nation’s quality of life. Educational equality is not only a lucrative asset to a country’s economy, but also reduces rates of child malnutrition and decreases the wage gap between men and women in many developing countries. The top 10 facts about girls’ education in developing countries that will be presented below will help to illustrate the global situation regarding the participation of girls and women in general in the classrooms of developing countries.
Top 10 Facts About Girls’ Education in Developing Countries
- Girls’ education affects a nation’s economy. According to the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), when girls receive an education, it increases their ability to gain access to higher paying jobs. This adds to a nation’s economy and increases a woman’s involvement in politics. Investing in girls’ education provides a boost to a developing country’s progress and acts as a catalyst for gender equality on multiple levels.
- Provided with an education, girls are more likely to earn a higher income later in life, increasing their family’s overall quality of life. Globally, if all girls received a primary education, 1.7 million children would be rescued from poverty-induced malnutrition. In addition, if all girls worldwide received a secondary education, 12.2 million children could avoid malnutrition and stunted growth.
- In 2013, UNESCO reported that nearly 25 percent of all girls in developing countries have not completed primary school, and that out of the 774 million people in the world who are illiterate, two-thirds are women.
- Education equality has been on the rise in many countries. Thanks to the Global Partnership for Education’s (GPE) and many other organizations efforts, the total number of girls enrolled in school worldwide increased by 38 million in the period from 2002 to 2015.
- Many factors play into the inequality seen in educational systems in numerous developing countries, such as India, where for every 100 boys not enrolled in primary school there are 426 girls. Often, poverty is the primary reason for this discrepancy. When families struggle to send multiple children to class, male children are often prioritized. Many girls in developing countries are oppressed by traditional gender roles that marginalize a female’s role in society.
- For every year of secondary school completed, there is an increase in woman’s income by 25 percent. This may seem logical, but many people do not think this way.
- Girl’s education can prevent pregnancy in childhood. For each year that a girl in a developing nation is in school, her first child is delayed by 10 months. Pregnancy in childhood can prevent a girl from receiving an education which decreases the chances of her child suffering from malnutrition and disease.
- If all women worldwide received a secondary education, this would prevent the deaths of 3 million children.
- Girls’ education in developing countries reduces the gender gap found in the workplaces of many progressing countries. UNESCO found that Pakistani women with a primary education made 51 percent of what their male counterparts made. This number was increased to 70 percent when a woman completed her secondary education.
- In Somalia, 95 percent of girls aged from 7 to 16 have never been to school. This is the highest instance of educational inequality found worldwide. This statistic affects girls later in life, where Somali women aged from 17 to 22 have received four months of schooling their entire life on average.
Going forward, improvements to girls’ education in developing countries will provide these countries with a more knowledgeable workforce, healthier families, less early-life pregnancies and lower wage gaps often found between men and women.
By providing women with the chance to better themselves academically, our global community has made us all the richer. With the number of girls’ enrolling in school increasing every year, gender equality in developing countries worldwide is becoming a reality.
– Jason Crosby
Photo: Flickr