Facts on children
Girls' Education
Making the Case
"Short-changing girls is not only a matter of gender discrimination; it is bad economics and bad social policy. Experience has shown, over and over again, that investments in girls’ education translate directly and quickly into better nutrition for the whole family, better health care, declining fertility, poverty reduction and better overall economic performance."
-From ‘We the Peoples’, the Millennium Report of the United Nations Secretary-General
“There can be no significant or sustainable transformations in societies – and no significant or lasting reduction in global poverty – until girls receive the quality basic education they need and that is their fundamental right.”
-Carol Bellamy, UNICEF Executive Director
ISSUE
Few actions have as profound an impact on children – and on society as a whole – as ensuring them a quality education. As a foundation for human development, education enables individuals to make genuine choices about the kind of lives they wish to lead. Ultimately, education opens an infinite number of doors that might otherwise remain shut. But for millions of youngsters – most of them girls – this human right is denied.
The resulting loss of potential does not affect girls alone, as an educated female population benefits societies and economies.
- Children of educated mothers are more likely to survive and to be healthier because of better nutrition and immunization rates. Educated women marry later, have fewer children and are less likely to die in childbirth than women with little or no schooling.
- Girls’ education may be the single most effective weapon in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. It slows and reduces the spread of the disease by contributing to female economic independence, delayed marriage, and an understanding of the disease and how to prevent it.
- Research has shown that for every year of schooling, wages for women as well as for men increase by a worldwide average of about 10 per cent. Educated mothers tend to send their children to school, a key to breaking the cycle of inter-generational poverty.
- Girls’ education has been shown to have multiplier effects in other areas as well. Quality education keeps children in school and makes them less vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Education can impart an early understanding of social justice and peace and of the fragile environment in which we live. Countries with higher primary enrolment and smaller schooling gaps between boys and girls are usually more democratic. And investments in girls’ education – particularly those directed to the quality of education – also benefit boys. The reverse is not always the case.
Because of the wide-ranging impact of girl’s education on many aspects of human survival and development, UNICEF has made it a priority in its medium-term strategic plan for 2002-2005.
