“Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime. But teach a woman to fish, and everyone eats for a lifetime.”
~Ritu Sharma
One year ago, education institutions across the world were forced to shift to remote schooling. However, this interruption in the education sector has been shown to have disproportionately impacted children across the U.S. and globally, especially for young girls living in low-resourced communities. Offering girls basic education enables them to make choices over the kinds of lives they can live. However, endemic poverty, cultural barriers and remote geographic locations are some of the biggest hurdles.
Know the facts
- UNESCO estimates that 11 million girls may not return to school.
- Human Rights Watch explains that “girls are expected to take on greater housework burdens, [are] less likely to have access to the internet than boys, and due to societal or familial restraints sometimes faced greater constraints on their interactions with others.” Also, “as girls have to travel great distances to reach school, it multiplies the risks of their personal security.” – Zigya
- “In 10 countries worldwide (Benin, Cameroon, Guinea, Haiti, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Senegal and Timor-Leste), the poorest girls spend less than 2 years in school on average. In Guinea, Mali and Pakistan over 80% of poor girls have spent only two years or less in school.” UNESCO
- According to UN Women, in some countries, levels of abuse against women have increased five-fold.
- Malala Fund research uses insights from the 2014-15 Ebola epidemic to help communities comprehend the short- and long-term consequences of terminating and discouraging education for young girls and women. Those consequences include;
“Increased rates of poverty, household responsibilities, child labor, and teenage pregnancy…”
But to what extent does education impact population growth and the availability of resources needed for human welfare?
Failure to prioritize the need for educating young girls has been directly correlated with issues of overpopulation. Population growth has gradually reached some public attention, but it fails to regard the environmental impact on future generations. Focusing on these aspects is not novel, as it was a subject that was conceptualized by a famous 18th-century Economist Thomas Robert Malthus in his book “An Essay on the Principle of Population.” In this book, Malthus explained that “the human population increases geometrically, while food production increases arithmetically [and that] under this paradigm, humans would eventually be unable to produce enough food to sustain themselves.” (Humanecologyreview).
Till today, understanding the link between population and natural resources remains controversial. A lot of the controversy stems from religious and cultural notions of the use of contraception. But perhaps the biggest concern of all is how incredibly disempowering these ideologies are on women’s rights to dictate over their bodies. In many developing countries, lack of access to contraception and sex education are the driving forces for millions of unintended pregnancies. This matter was discussed and proposed in the book Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming.
“When levels of education rise (in particular for girls and young women), access to reproductive healthcare improves, and women’s political, social, and economic empowerment expand, fertility typically falls. – Drawdown
Expanding the rights of girls and women to get an education can all be achieved through:
- Family counseling on the importance of a child’s right to an education.
- Ensuring that girls feel safe while in school.
- Collective action among policymakers and the international community by expanding resources and funding for education. Leading examples of organizations and movements include;
- The #EQUALEVERYWHERE, one of the United Nations mobilizing campaigns fighting the birthright of equality for girls and women.
- The Barefoot College is a “first-of-its-kind, women-centered, global network dedicated to sustainable development by making educational opportunities accessible to women and girls from the most marginalized communities worldwide.
- The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted by 189 countries, is the most robust global consensus to advance equality, development, and peace for all women.
Bottom Line
COVID-19 has exposed gender inequalities in and through a nearly 200-year-old K-12 school system. The disproportion of enrolled young girls in schools plays a role in the availability of natural resources. The vicious cycle of women’s inequality has long-standing implications for all life on earth. Devoting serious attention and resources to facilitate, mitigate, and correct the disparity in our education systems can help women;
- Acquire the knowledge and skills needed to compete in the labor market
- Navigate and adapt to a changing climate
- Help them make educated decisions about their lives and when it’s best to bear a child
featured image by Zigya