I have gone to school since preschool and there are times, many times, that I really dislike school and wish that I did not have to do that math homework or write that paper or read that chapter for psychology. However, it was not until my sophomore year of highschool when I realized how spoiled I was. It was in my sophomore year that there was a presentation at school about the girls in Niger who did not get an education. The girls had to drop out of school as soon as they got their period because they could not go to school while on their period due to the fact that they did not have feminine products at their disposal. This made them miss too much school that they could not keep up and to leave school. This baffled me. The fact that girls were not able to finish their education for a reason that they could not help; they were not able to finish school because of their gender, because of biology. This made me really upset and opened my eyes to how lucky I was to be able to go to school and get such a quality education. With this, this blog post will focus on girls who are not allowed to have a good education.

There are more than 130 million girls who are not in school. Why is that? This number is way to big. Each and everyday girls face barriers to get an education that are caused by poverty, cultural norms and practices, poor infrastructure, violence, and fragility. War and violence reduce opportunities for girls to go to school and continue their education because girls and women are the most vulnerable group in the population and they are the first ones to get things taken away from them during hard times. Another reason for girls not being able to continue their education is due to child marriage. When girls get married, they are expected to have children and take care of the home, not go to school and realize their full potential. Also, an proper education can be expensive and the high cost of school can prevent marginalized and impoverished girls from getting an education. In these underdeveloped countries, boys are going to get an education before girls so if they are more boys in a family, the girls have no chance of getting an education. Also, child labour is another reason that girls are not in school. In many cases, it is more important to be bringing in money than getting an education so girls are put to work to help support their families. There are many health risks to girls not having an education. Uneducated girls are more likely to get sexually transmitted diseases, get pregnant earlier, and have other health complications.

The countries with the highest level of uneducated girls are the more underdeveloped ones with weaker economies. The ten worst countries for girls to get an education are:

1. South Sudan
2. Central African Republic
3. Niger
4. Afghanistan
5. Chad
6. Mali
7. Guinea
8. Burkina Faso
9. Liberia
10. Ethiopia

In these ten countries, statistics show that more than half of the girls of the population are married before their 18th birthday and on in for are child labourers. However, in the countries that actually spend a significant portion of their budget on education, like Niger and Ethiopia, factors that prevent girls from gaining an education are extreme poverty, child marriage, and cultural and economic barriers.  

When girls are educated, it strengthens economies and creates more jobs, it makes communities more stable, and education of girls allows for healthier citizens, and therefore, healthier families. Aside from making sure that girls are getting a quality education, it is important to make sure that all girls feel safe in school and learn in a way that will allow them to be able to compete in the labor market of today’s world. This is not just girls issue or a gender issue, this is an economic issue and a global issue.

Girls not being able to get an education is clearly an issue that needs to be fixed. This is something that we, as a society, need to work towards each and every day We need to raise money for the underdeveloped countries in order to allow them to let girls go to school and we need to publicize how it is just as important for women to get an education as it is for men to get one. The World Bank, which is an organization that focuses on helping refugees and those in underdeveloped countries, has a plan to help these girls in these countries. Some of their ideas include:

• Providing conditional cash transfers or scholarships to these countries.
• Reducing the distance of schools in relation to the girls.
• Targeting boys and men to be a part of these discussions, particularly about cultural and societal practices.
• Ensuring gender-sensitive curriculum.
• Hiring and training qualified female teachers.
• Building safe and inclusive learning environments for girls.
• Ending child marriage.
• Addressing the violence against girls and women.

If we work together, we can do this. It will be hard and take time, but it will be worth it. We cannot let girls live like they are in those countries listed above. This simply cannot stand. Education for all.  

Please consider donating to the Malala Fund to help these girls get an education.