Highlights
1. Executive Summary
This report investigates the impact of educating girls and the significant issues relating to low attendance and retention. Research reveals that education reduces poverty, both directly through increased economic opportunity and indirectly, through lower birth rates and the resulting lower economic strain (Herz & Sperling 2004, pp. 26-27). Education for females is especially important as girls are routinely discriminated against and excluded from educational and economic opportunity, resulting in high rates of premature death, disease and poverty (Lawson 2008, pp. 6-7). When examining the issue globally, it is important to consider that of the 104 million children aged 6-11 not enrolled in school each year, 60 million are girls (UNESCO 2003, as cited in Herz & Sperling 2004, p. 2). These numbers are significant in light of the World Bank’s (2001 as cited in Kristof & WuDunn 2009, p. xx) findings that “investment in girls’ education may be the highest-return investment available in the developing world”. This report examines the key causes of low female school enrolment and retention, the outcomes and impact of educating girls and possible solutions to ensure girls have increased access to education.
2. Causes of the issue
Inadequate access to and enrolment in school for girls is a complex global issue linked to several factors precluding girls from equal educational and economic opportunity. The main causes of low female attendance and school retention are:
2.1. Gender Discrimination Mindset
The leading factor inhibiting education for girls is gender discrimination. Gender discrimination is more pervasive than simply limiting access to education. For example, as a result of immunisation preferences for boys, young girls in India are fifty percent more likely to die from preventable disease (Kristof & WuDunn 2009, p. xvi). This same mindset often precludes young girls from attending school past a certain age. For example, anecdotal evidence reveals that in many cultures, parents are willing to pay negligible school fees (e.g., $13 a year) for young boys but not for girls (Kristof & WuDunn 2009). This discrimination is further exacerbated by the ‘opportunity costs’ related to educating girls. In addition to the direct cost of education (i.e., fees, textbooks, etc.) ‘opportunity costs’ are often insurmountable for many girls. Opportunity costs include the ‘would be’ economic gains of employing girls in vocational or domestic work rather than sending them to school. Furthermore, in many cultures, girls are expected to leave school to care for the home as a type of apprenticeship for their prescribed roles as wives and mothers (Lawson 2008, p. 8).
2.2. Medical Obstacles
Low attendance rates and retention can also be attributed to medical conditions that have readily available solutions. For example, intestinal worms frequently spread through regional areas, causing 130,000 deaths each year from anaemia and intestinal obstruction (Kristof & WuDunn 2009, p. 171). Notably, anaemia is particularly deleterious to menstruating girls and thus impacts girls’ enrolment more than boys (Hotez et al. 2009, p. 1572; Kristof & WuDunn 2009, p. 171). Similarly, approximately 31 percent of homes in the developing world obtain insufficient iodine from food and water. Inadequate iodine in pregnant woman causes brain damage and may reduce a child’s IQ by 10-15 points (Shrestha 1994 as cited in Field, Robles & Torero 2008, p. 6). Significantly, research shows that the cognitive impact of iodine insufficiency is particularly severe in female foetuses, further disadvantaging young girls throughout developing regions of the world (Field, Robles & Torero 2008, p. 52).
3. Issue Outcomes
Although the direct impact of limiting girls’ access to education is imprecise, there is extensive evidence illustrating the positive impacts of educating girls. The following research summarises key outcomes and benefits to educating girls:
3.1. Economic and Social Opportunity
Educating girls contributes to both individual and macro-economic growth. Several studies examine the economic impact of education and conclude that for each additional year of schooling, a girl’s wage will increase by 10% (Malhotra et al. as cited in Lawson 2008, p. 6). These wage increases are partly the result of white-collar or public sector employment and the subsequent increased earning potential of such work in comparison to vocational labour (Lawson 2008, p. 6). On a larger scale, female education “is linked to higher productivity, higher returns on investment, higher agricultural yields, and a more favourable demographic structure”, suggesting that female education is integral to long term economic growth (Lawson 2008, p. 1).
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