GENDER EQUALITY In educatIon

Even though girls are more successful than boys in the schools, there are more boys than girls in study. There are some reasons behind this issue.

Girls around the world drop out of school for a number of reasons; but in many cases these reasons are directly related to poverty. Globally, girls more often than boys are responsible for gathering water and helping their mothers with household chores; which means that they can spend up to 6 hours per day collecting water. This far too often means that they forced to drop out of school because they can't get these chores done and attend classes. In some cases, when they are able to complete their chores and still get to school, they are tired and focusing on school work is an even bigger challange. In the villages with poverty, girls often have to spend hours every day walking to clean water sources and carrying it back to their households.

Both clean drinking water and prober sanitation are relatively easy fixes that have dramatic results. Reductions in time spent collecting water have been found to increase school attendance. A study in Tanzania has showed "12% increase in school attendance when water was available within 15 minutes compared to more than half an hour away".

And staying in school is good for girls on a number of fronts; Girls who stay in school are less likely to marry at a young age. Girls who are educated have a better chance of experiencing better nutritional outcomes AND girls who are educated are more likely to have higher income earning potential.

IF GIRLS WERE MORE IN EDUCATION, HOW WOULD THIS CHANGE OUR WORLD?

• THEY MARRY LATER
  Girls with 8 years of education are 6 times less likely to be married as childeren.
  

• THEY HAVE FEWER CHILDEREN
  A girl who receives 7 years of education has 2.2 fewer childeren.
  

• THEY HAVE HEALTHIER CHILDREN
  A child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive past the age of 5.
  

• THEY EARN MORE
  A girl with an extra year of primary school will increase her future earnings by 10-20%. An extra year of high school will increase them by 15-25%.
  

• THEY EDUCATE THEIR CHILDREN
  Educated women are likely to educate their children, both their boys and their girls.
  

• THEY MAKE THE WORLD SAFER
  When a country gives all its children secondary education, they cut the risk of war in half.
  

• THEY MAKE THE WORLD MORE PROSPEROUS
  If all girls and women completed secondary school they could add up to $30,000,000,000 to the global economy.

And as the most important thing:

THEY BREAK THE CYCLE OF POVERTY