Why Education Matters, Especially for Women

My first day of preschool was on my birthday. I brought in pretzels that were covered in colored chocolate to look like pencils--yellow as the base and pink at the tip. I do not remember much of that day from my own memories, but I have seen photos. I wore a purple dress and a big grin. I was ready for school.

No, going to school is not the best way to celebrate your fifth birthday. But, in a sense, it was kind of symbolic. A birthday is a celebration of a new year, a new chapter. The first day of school is a new experience, the beginning of a long road ahead with a lot of learning, studying, and testing.

But this is not to suggest that schooling is bad--even if an educational system is corrupt, though that is another article for another time. Education is an immeasurable gift. Education gives us all knowledge about the world around us. We become curious about the world and our environment. Education is a perspective on life and an idea on how to work with things, people, and thoughts. In this sense, education makes us self-dependent. Through education, we learn a trade that can get us a job and money. Education leads us to such an employment. It is a basis for skills throughout life; we have learned things beyond historical facts and grammar lessons. It is a preparation for the “real world.” Education is transformative. It also allows us to think for ourselves, make decisions on our own, and lead our own lives. Along these lines, education also can allow us to lead safer, healthier lives through the knowledge and information we obtain.

On top of all of this, though, education is the key to bridging the gap and improving the conditions and lives of women and girls. Equal education has so many benefits in addition to the obvious one of girls being learned as well. Equal education can bring economic development, reduction in pover, and better health to countries and individuals.

Yet, education is not equal throughout the world. Females face barriers when trying to gain an education. Child marriage, for example, often means the end of education. Girls are also often forced to stay home from school due to the lack of sanitary products. Women and girls are stereotypically expected to take care of the household and family as well. Economically, families may not be able to send all of their children to school, and boys often get the advantage.

These barriers need to come down.

There are so many benefits for countries and individuals if we encourage women to be educated. Marriage is delayed, which leads to delayed first births and healthier babies. More than half the reduction of child deaths in the past 40 years is due to the increase of women’s educations. When a woman is safe a healthy, so will be her children. Women who finish school are able to get a good job. She gains skills and knowledge she would not have had elsewise. She can then potentially lift her own family out of poverty and choose the future that she wants. This boosts the nation’s economy as well as her own life. With each extra year of education, a woman’s earnings increases by 10 percent.

Education makes a difference. It’s 2019, and every woman and girl should have the opportunity to be educated like her male counterpart. It is beneficial not only to her but also her family, community, and nation.