day 5 - impediments to education

If the answer to so many of the problems in developing nations is as easy as women’s education, you may be saying, then why isn’t the whole issue solved now? Why can’t we just stick all girls in a school, problem solved?

I wish I had an answer. There are many factors that can inhibit girls from going to school, even if it’s their priority to go. As mentioned yesterday, girls may be needed for simple basic housework and chores, such as taking care of younger siblings while their parents work in the fields. This is especially prevalent if a family has many children: girls may begin to start caring for their siblings at a very young age, preventing them from going to school.

Although it seems like an indirect reason, lack of water sources hinder women from an education. According to charitywater.org, many women walk three hours a day to get water (often dirty water contaminated with cholera, dysentery and E. coli bacteria, and schistosoma). This time spent just to get water consumes any time that might be spent in school (but the building of a well for clean water eliminates the need to walk this distance).

Perhaps a less-considered reason for why it may be difficult for girls to attend school is simply because of their menstrual cycles. Sanitary napkins are an exorbitant expense, but lack of them often prevents girls from having solid academic attendance. According to an Oxford study conducted by Linda Scott, providing sanitary napkins for menstruating girls reduced their absence from school from 21% to 9% - a significant improvement. Cheaper ways to manage menstruation are currently being developed (read about the issue on Nicholas Kristof’s NY Times blog).

Lastly, a family might lack the funds needed to pay for tuition. What good is it spending money on an expensive education, a family might say, if my daughter can go out and work in the fields and earn money? The immediate, tangible (monetary) gratification that education lacks makes the choice clear for struggling families. But what is often overlooked is the fact that educated girls earn about 25% more income than their uneducated counterparts.

With so many other factors that may inhibit women from obtaining an education, it may seem like a lost cause to invest in it. But this isn’t the case: invest in education, and a woman will not need to keep her children at home to work. She can initiate the building of a well in her village, and mentor younger girls to stay in school. Though we may not recognize it now, investment in education reaps benefits hundreds of times over down the road. A small donation can be the start of a revolutionary change in the life of a woman and everyone around her.

Janna