The Girl Effect

 

I am not inclined toward grand statements about how infinitely superior Woman is to Man. Simply: I don’t believe it.

We’re on this planet together. We have different gifts and different foibles. We need those differences.

And we all need a fair shot at what Prince once referred to as “this thing called life.” This includes basic human rights and necessities. It includes education.

At present time, particularly in developing countries, education for girls lags far behind that of boys.  And while that in itself isn’t surprising, the effects that an education has on a girl’s life are pretty surprising. For instance:

• When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children. (United Nations Population Fund, State of World Population 1990.)

• An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. An extra year of secondary school: 15 to 25 percent. (George Psacharopoulos and Harry Anthony Patrinos, “Returns to Investment in Education: A Further Update,” Policy Research Working Paper 2881[Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2002].)

• Research in developing countries has shown a consistent relationship between better infant and child health and higher levels of schooling among mothers. (George T. Bicego and J. Ties Boerma, “Maternal Education and Child Survival: A Comparative Study of Survey Data from 17 Countries,” Social Science and Medicine 36 (9) [May 1993]: 12 07–2 7. )

So what can you do? It’s twofold, I think. You can start by making the people in your circles aware of this dynamic, and of these and other facts. And you can donate money.

This situation is utterly changeable. You and I can help change it.