Saving Women's Lives: Educating Girls

Talk to an Expert: Vicki Sant, President, The Summit Foundation Mary Purcell, UN Representative, International Federation of University Women Marilyn Fowler, President/CEO, Women's Intercultural Network Martha Burke, Chair, National Council of Women's Organizations Jill Sheffield, President, Family Care International Ellen Sweet, Vice President of Public Affairs, International Women's Health Coalition

August 24 - The basic right to education was enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, and today the vast majority of the world’s children are attending school. But primary and secondary education remains a distant dream for millions, especially girls.

Educating girls and women is closely associated with better health, lower infant mortality, lower fertility, higher economic growth and environmental stewardship.

The Situation

· Of the 300 million children without access to education, two-thirds are girls. Similarly, women comprise two-thirds of the world’s 880 million illiterate adults.

· Female enrollment in primary education has increased from less than 60 percent in 1960 to almost 80 percent today.

· Providing universal primary education for all the world’s children would cost only an additional US $7 billion or so annually over the next 10 years.

· Girls’ education correlates with many positive indicators. In developing countries, each additional year of schooling is associated with a 5 to 10 percent decline in child deaths; education is second only to family planning in lowering family size. Each 1 percent increase in female secondary schooling results in a 0.3 percent increase in national economic growth.

· Only one-third of girls complete primary school education in India. However, in the Indian state of Kerala, which educates all classes and castes, 85 percent of women are literate, the country’s highest rate. Kerala also has India’s lowest rate of female infanticide, a flat population growth rate and a reputation for highly skilled and independent workers.

· For more than a decade, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee has created more than 30,000 schools offering non-formal primary education, and 70 percent of the participants are girls. Attendance is high, dropout rates are low and 90 percent of graduates have been integrated into the formal education system.

Related Links: More facts about girls' education Global Girls' Education: Country highlights from UNICEF Education Indicators from UNFPA Non-formal Education Projects from World Education Report on Girls' Education from Save the Children Facts on Education for Girls and Women from UNESCO

Developments

Recent global activities may reverse these trends. In 1990, the international community adopted the World Declaration on Education for All. This commitment, reaffirmed at the 2000 World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, charts a path to universal education, if the necessary political will and financial resources materialize.

In South America, the Caribbean, and parts of eastern Asia and southern Africa, school enrollment levels have improved more for girls than for boys in the past decade, resulting in a slight gender gap now favoring girls.

Educated women are more likely to be part of the labor force and to seek health care for themselves and their children. They are better at producing food and using resources in a sustainable manner. They are more likely to delay marriage, use family planning, raise healthy children, and live longer. Education saves women’s lives.

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