At UWC, students are highly encouraged to participate in service. I chose to participate in a service called Daraja which is a service that stands up for girls’ rights to education. Daraja Academy is a school built just for girls in Kenya and the girls there are able to receive education in a safe environment. After participating in the service and fighting for the cause, I became keen to keep helping women in need of education and I felt the cause was a severe one that should be resolved.
One might argue that women do not need education and should be in charge of housework leave the jobs which require strength or thinking to men but, others might say that women and men are equal and should have the same rights. This paper will argue that women and men should be treated equally and women should not be deprived of the right to receive education, nor should their treatments be differentiated to men because no one should be underprivileged based on their gender or status.
First of all, I think that education is one of the most critical areas of empowerment for women. It is also known as one of the clearest examples of the discrimination that women suffer. Women receiving education should not be seen as an opulence as it was established as a basic human right. According to UNICEF, among the children who do not go to school, there are twice as many girls as boys. This states that girls have a lower chance of receiving an education than boys. Also, if a family can only afford enough money to provide education for one member of the family, it will more likely be the boy in the family who receives education. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women recently established a basic human right that girls should be allowed to receive a basic education and it should not be a luxury for them. This means that women should have the right to receive a basic education to help them live their life successfully and they should not be deprived of the right to learn. Recently, UN Women offered classes to women who were not able to receive an education in north-eastern Afghanistan. A girl called Beheshta, age 20, who was receiving education from this program stated, “educating women and girls and women’s empowerment in our community is my dream,” (Beheshta, 2013). This shows that people of Afghanistan still decipher women receiving education as a luxury. I believe this mindset is very wrong and women having an opportunity to receive a basic education should be accustomed.
Secondly, no one should be underprivileged based on their gender or status and without these judgements, the world can become a more improved and fair community. According to UN WOMEN, if women receive an education, it will be advantageous for both the woman herself, and the improvement of the world to make it a safer place. For example, there will be an increasing literacy rate which can help improve conditions in developing regions and there will be a reduced chance of human trafficking. Also, children of educated mothers are twice as likely to survive and poverty will be reduced. Yet, according to Brookings Article, it states that there are many barriers stopping women from receiving a proper education which should be resolved. Some of these include, high costs, inflexible timetables, lack of numerous schools in different areas, lack of preparation in their early years, irrelevant curricula, regular closures of schools, lack of space and a limited capacity, and lack of proper materials. This means that in order for women around the world to receive an education everyone should contribute in helping women go to school, even if it is only a small contribution. To help, many people can donate or provide service for women to overcome these many barriers and for them to continue leading their educational lives.
Also, many women from various parts of the world are not able to read or write and that leads to women being classified lowly and not being able to be located to a job. Also, in most countries, male are classified more superior than female which, shows a lack of respect towards women. According to UN Women, only 12% of the people in Afghanistan are literate. This is a very small amount and it shows the lack of education that they have. According to a Brookings article, it states that “lack of fairness and justice persist in the education systems of developing countries, including judgements based on gender,” (Strand, 2015). It also states that, Afghanistan has the highest level of gender disparity in education in the world, largely due to cultural barriers such as early marriage or lack of female teachers. This shows how large the amount of discrimination is between men and women in developing countries. I understand that different countries or religions have different traditions about how the women should stay at home and do housework while the men receive education and work to earn money. But I strongly believe this is a wrong way of thinking because women or men, we are all the same species, humans, and we should all have the same rights as, we are classified as equal. Although the discrimination of women has decreased in many modern countries, many can still observe a slight preference that people have towards men. From my own experience, I can sense a difference between people’s mindset towards men and women. For example, if a boy gave orders to the people in a group and took control, the people would classify him as a boy with strong leadership skills. On the other hand, if a girl did the same thing, people would habitually classify her as bossy.
In conclusion, there are different perspectives that we can look at this issue but, the point I would like to get across is that discrimination between women and men is a serious issue that should definitely be fixed. Even though the inequality between men and women have ceased slightly in modern countries, I believe that developing countries are still experiencing this issue and people should take caution of this.
Bibliography
"Girls' Education: A Lifeline to Development." Girls' Education: A Lifeline to Development. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.
"Right to Education Still Not a Reality for Many Women and Girls." Right to Education Still Not a Reality for Many Women and Girls. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.
"Expanding and Improving the Quality of Girls' Education in Afghanistan." The Brookings Institution. N.p., 19 Aug. 2015. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.
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