Education & Girls

I came across an article from Ms. magazine by Michelle Chen (found here) on the issues girls in many countries face when it comes to education, and though it’s a fairly short article, it does highlight some things that we have not discussed in class but that are very relevant to the problem of gendered conflict. Chen discusses some of the statistics that show that in many countries, girls are less likely to get an education than boys, even going as low as fewer than 35 female students per 100 male students in countries like Ethiopia and Niger, as well as some of the barriers and obstacles that girls must overcome in order to go to school.
Chen really tied the issue of girls’ education into the larger issue of gendered conflict, saying how as girls enter puberty, they face sexual assault, having to conform to strict gender roles, and early marriage. Without education, these girls often have no means to change their situation. By keeping girls out of schools, even countries that are making economic progress will be horribly underdeveloped in the area of women’s rights and when 50% or more of a country’s citizens are uneducated, the cycle of poverty continues.
Though Chen doesn’t really offer any speculative solutions to the issue, or discuss what is being done to help get more girls into schools, she does provide some insightful facts about the problem. She does inspire hope by providing statistics that show that when girls do enter school, they are less likely to drop out than boys and often perform as well as or better than boys. Overall, I thought her article was interesting though perhaps it didn’t really go far enough.