Educating the Women of the World
By: Melissa Baloy
There are 796 million adult illiterates in the world.
According to the United Nation for Education, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) two out of every three of illiterate people are women.
Why We Need to Make Education Accessible
It is believed that providing education for women would significantly reduce the amount of poverty, childhood marriage, and teen pregnancy. With just a high school education, women would be more qualified for jobs, which will then lead to financial stability for the individual and the family. Illiteracy not only affects the parents, but future generations as well. If parents are not educated, the likelihood of their children receiving a good education is slim to none.
Women's education in Afghanistan threatened
Understanding Boko Haram
Even though religion and culture play a huge role in whether or not women receive an education, perhaps the biggest issue at hand is the threat of outside forces- such as Boko Haram- looming over the people.
Understanding Boko Haram
What We Can Do & What is Already Being Done
Girl Rising is a world wide campaign for girl's education. Their mission is to "change the way the world views the girl". Their organization started by making a documentary following nine girls through their lives and showing the challenges that they face just to be able to get through their day to day lives.
On April 4, 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from their school so that they could not continue their education. This received world wide attention and the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls trended in protest.
Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking out against the ban on women's education. She fully recovered and since then has published a best selling book and won a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in continuing to stand up for her beliefs.