The Power and Promise of Girls' Education - Save the Children

to earn more, to improve their health and selfesteem.
Looking ahead to secondary school is an
incentive for girls to attend and perform well in
primary school, and reassures families that their
investments will pay off. Secondary school
opportunities must expand for countries to reap
the full benefits of female education for national
development and individual well-being.
parents want girls to help out at home. Improving
school quality for girls will strengthen the benefits of
school for society as a whole. Positive gender
dynamics in classrooms give girls and boys stronger
self-esteem, problem-solving skills, and courage to
explore and create. Girls develop self-confidence, skills
and a vision of earning an income, later marriage and
a smaller family.
3. Promote alternative schooling for girls affected
by AIDS, conflict and natural disasters. School
protects girls against AIDS and against some of the
worst forms of harm and abuse during conflicts and
natural disasters. But in communities destabilized by
these crises, girls are more likely than boys to be
withdrawn from school out of fear for their safety, or
because they are needed at home as families struggle
for survival. In crisis settings, NGOs, religious groups
and the private sector are providing diverse and
innovative educational options for hard-to-reach girls
from early childhood to adulthood. Based on mounting
evidence that alternative models of education can help
children learn and can reach girls effectively, more
governments are partnering with private organizations
to achieve education for all. Opening national
education systems to diversity and innovation is a
positive trend for girls’ education.
4. Expand girls’ secondary school opportunities.
Primary education is essential for girls, but should not
be the ultimate goal. Every additional year of girls’
education strengthens their ability to delay marriage,
5. Engage men and civic groups with shared
interests as advocates for girls’ education.
Women and men have worked together to bring girls
into school. Women do not hold the majority of
national legislative seats in any government, so
partnerships with men of vision have been key to the
successes achieved to date. Similarly, in homes around
the world, while women’s commitment to support
their daughters’ education is critical, fathers also play
significant and decisive roles in their daughters’
education. Fathers often have the final word on
sending their daughters to school or delaying their
daughters’ marriages. And since violence and the
threat of violence is one of the most significant
obstacles to girls’ safe arrival at school and to their
safety while learning, it is essential that the men in
every community agree on and enforce social norms
that condemn violence and sexual exploitation of
girls. The effects of girls’ education on reduced
population growth, economic productivity and the
health of a nation mean that there are many potential
partners for advocacy, from national AIDS committees
to commercial enterprises looking for a competent
workforce. Locally, nationally and internationally these
groups with shared interests should be enlisted to
promote girls’ education.
6. Increase government support for girls’
education in the developing world. The United
States should demonstrate leadership toward the goal
of “Education for All” by the year 2015 by doubling
U.S. government funding for basic education in the
foreign assistance budget to $800 million for fiscal
year 2006. These should be new funds – not taken
from other accounts critical to the survival and
well-being of children, such as family planning,
maternal and child health and AIDS prevention.
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THE POWER AND PROMISE OF GIRLS’ EDUCATION