Why Girls' Education Matters
Most reading this would agree that educating our girls is important and have made education a priority, but in other areas of the world, this is not necessarily the case and there are some real barriers. So here's a brief rundown of the challenges, why it's so important to support girls' education, and what we can each do.
Nearly 98 million girls around the world are not in school. This impacts their own potential as well as impacting their families, communities, and countries. There are several challenges that keep girls from school: dangerous and long commutes to school, facing physical and sexual assault when at school, or the inability to pay school fees. Stigma around menstruation can also keep girls from school, and without proper bathroom facilities, girls stay home during their menstrual cycle and end up falling behind and dropping out.
But often, the problem is also about attitudes and beliefs of girls. In some places, once girls reach adolescence, they are expected to take on the responsibilities of managing a home full-time, or marrying and having children. Every year 12 million girls are married before the age of 18.
This has real consequences for countries and economies. Trillions of dollars of productivity and earnings are lost due to girls being unable to complete 12 years of schooling.
Education is key to empowering women. Girls with a basic education have much greater power to make decisions on the kinds of lives they want to lead while also improving the lives of their families, improving their communities, and countries as a whole. Other important benefits of girls’ education include: the number of people living in poverty would be significantly reduced, it could virtually eliminate child marriage, it improves their health and their children’s health, and sending women with a secondary education into the workforce improves whole economies and directly increases per capita income growth.
Education clearly has the power to change the world! That’s why at NadiaGirl, we support the Girls Opportunity Alliance. The Girls Opportunity Alliance supports and connects grassroots leaders working on girls’ education. At NadiaGirl, a percentage of our profit is donated to them for this cause. Because we believe in empowering girls through everything that we do.
By shopping on nadiagirl.com, you’re supporting the empowerment of girls through education. You can also donate directly here.
References:
https://www.obama.org/girlsopportunityalliance/take-action/get-the-facts/