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By Samwel Owino
In recent years, talks about female education has been on the rise. Non-Governmental Organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank, have come together to ensure that more and more women are educated. Women’s education has led to the rise of various movements like feminism that have opened doors for their inclusivity in most sectors like the sciences and sports and many others that are generally dominated by men.
Even though women’s education and empowerment has been and considered in most countries around the world, some countries still have “oppressive” systems that are looked down upon. Is women empowerment really the best idea and should everyone start thinking about it? In this article we take a look at some of the advantages of women empowerment and education.
Increased literacy is the most obvious one. Countries with higher literacy rates show positive results in terms of development and economic growth. In most African countries women are not prioritized in education, if they are educated, they join the literate people and are considered literate. If women are considered in this bracket of literary persons, a country or region will most likely develop faster because of a large number of literate persons. Literacy also helps people navigate unfortunate situations. For example, most bread winners in Africa are men, who mostly die early and leave their wealth with their wives and children. In this situation if the wife and the children are educated, they can manage the wealth and even improve from it.
Statistics by World Bank suggest that a girl who completes primary school is very likely to avoid a HIV contraction. The World Bank therefore refers to education as a “window of hope.” Education equips women with the knowledge and understanding on topics such as safe sex, sanitation procedures and their general well-being. These topics are desensitized in most African homes and with this ignorance, the consequences are harsh, quite literally especially to young girls. Education also helps to prevent early marriages of girls. This is a common thing in Africa, in which case, the family does this to support the male’s education instead or even to feed the family.
Families that have an educated mother tend to survive longer. In the case of uneducated women, they would not know how to take care of an infant in ways such as immunization for the infant. For educated women, they have an income that they can use to support the family. Due to this, the family survives longer as such things like vaccination that one should be keen on during the early years of a child is taken care of. Even with the rise of many single mothers in Africa, the educated women can take care of the family with ease or they are at a better position than an uneducated woman.
Political representation for women is also another important factor to consider on why female education is important. Women’s rights are better known to them than to men. A political representative would help empower them more and even their needs can be met better improve a country in the global cause for gender equality. Political representation has been an effective tool in the recent years, in Kenya ,for example, we have seen women rise in politics like Hon. Gladys Wanga, beat Evans Kidero, in the Homa Bay county, gubernatorial seat. The women at the top political seats give women the motivation and direction to pursue their dreams.
Sex trafficking would reduce in a significant rate if women get an education. Sex trafficking exploits poverty and greed for wealth in that sex traffickers would approach families with women or young girls and promise them a better future and life abroad only to end up in the sex trafficking business. Some families have greed for wealth and therefore sell their girls to slavery. Education helps to control the out-of-control business in that the women can provide for themselves a better future and can also lift up other women who are in the same situation as them.
Education for women is important and should be taken into serious consideration. The percentage of women in the world is more than that of men. If less of them are educated, then it means there is a small percentage of people in the world who are educated. This is a disservice in terms of solving some of the world’s biggest problems.
The former president of the United States, Barrack Obama said while addressing the United Nations General Assembly in 2012, “The future must not belong to those who bully women. It must be shaped by girls who go to school and those who stand for a world where our daughters can live their dreams just like our sons.” We therefore ought to live by these words and strive to create a world where women feel respected and appreciated.