The Gender Gap In the Education System
Girls face systemic barriers to education, what are we doing about it?
By Jessica Nguyen
According to Save the Children.org, girls all over the world are three times more likely than boys to be kept out of school for reasons such as forced marriages, teenage pregnancy, or family/financial pressure. Currently, there are 130 million girls not enrolled in primary and secondary schools.
As with politicians and influential figures such as Michelle Obama and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, it is clear that a woman’s financial background doesn’t hinder her future success as long as her education is taken as a priority.
In Michelle Obama’s podcast episode Growing Up Robinson with Craig and Michelle, Michelle and her brother, Craig Robinson, discuss what it was like growing up in the south side of Chicago. Specifically, they discuss the transition from South Parkway, which “wasn’t quite a project, it was a coop,” to the Euclid house, where Michelle spent most of her childhood. Craig Robinson recalls a memory of when he asked his father, “are we rich?” only to come to the realization that they weren’t as financially well off as he thought.
Despite the family’s financial burdens, Michelle and Craig went on to graduate from Princeton University and earn highly prestigious titles such as the First Lady and a professional basketball coach for Brown University and Oregon State.
In the Netflix documentary Knock Down the House, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) recalls a time in her life where her mother “would clean a woman’s house in exchange for SAT lessons.” With her strong work ethic in a small public school in Yorktown, NY, AOC eventually went on to graduate cum laude from Boston University and became the youngest woman to serve in the United States Congress. She now is the U.S. representative for New York’s 14th congressional district and actively pushes for law reforms in favor of the middle and lower class such as the Place to Prosper Act.
How can society recognize the achievements of these powerful women in politics but not acknowledge that primary school education for young girls is essential in shaping tomorrow’s leaders?
Two bills, the Keeping Girls in School Act and Girls LEAD Act, could be the first step toward closing the gender gap in the world’s education system.
The Keeping Girls in School Act empowers girls around the world, especially in developing third world countries, by providing educational opportunities and economic security for families. The bill’s main objective is to increase girls’ enrollment in primary and secondary schools to give them equal access to education as their male counterparts and set them up for success in the future. The act will focus on lifting family-oriented burdens off girls like marrying for dowries or working in their family farms so that they can continue their schooling.
Supporting the Keeping Girls in School Act will hold the U.S. to responsibilities such as 1) updating the U.S. global strategy to integrate innovative technology into classrooms and fund mechanisms with public-private partnerships and impact bonds 2) targeting US AID for results-based and traditional grant project proposals and 3) monitoring evaluation strategies. These efforts will be regularly monitored by congressional committees as the Department of State (DOS) and US AID review and update the U.S. global strategy every five years.
One could argue that COVID-19 has put a spotlight on the countries most effective in combating the pandemic: those run by women. Prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has made headlines with New Zealand being coronavirus-free for more than 100 days. Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel facilitates 350,000 COVID-19 tests every week for Germans while President Trump refuses to test those not exhibiting symptoms for fear of increasing America’s COVID-19 confirmed cases. Ardern and Merkel’s successes have shown that government transparency benefits their relationship with citizens and the overall health of the country.
Women leaders have proven to be more responsive to citizens’ needs than their male counterparts. This is why the Girls LEAD Act is essential in curating future political leaders.
The Girls LEAD Act encourages girls in third world countries to get involved in public policy and domestic governance. Monitored by the DOS and USAID like the Keeping Girls in School Act, the act will encourage girls to participate in and learn about democracy, human rights, and governance. Priority funding on these programs and annual reporting will be the checks and balances for how the bill progresses.
However, these bills can not come to life unless constituents let their senators and representatives know about them.
Weekly, senators and representatives will keep a summary of all the calls and emails they’ve received about specific bills, which will sway their decision on what bills to prioritize and if they should co-sponsor the bill.
Find out who your representatives, call them, email them, and spread the word about what bills you want to support.
COVID-19 has already widened the education gap for lower-income female students with the inaccessibility of technology and internet services, so the need for support on these bills is greater now more than ever. Women like congresswoman AOC fighting for middle to lower class rights and New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, stopping the spread of COVID-19 have made an impactful change and touched countless lives in the past few months alone, so let’s plan a better future for girls starting with their school books and backpacks.
Here is how to call congress about the Girls LEAD act and the Keeping Girls in School Act in less than 30 seconds: https://borgenproject.org/issues-homepage/#/49
Here is how to email congress about the Girls LEAD act and Keeping Girls in School Act in less than 20 seconds: https://borgenproject.org/action-center/
Click here to learn more about the Girls LEAD act: https://www.savethechildren.org/us/what-we-do/events/bridge-the-gap-for-girls/advocate
Click here to learn more about the Keeping Girls in School act: https://www.savethechildren.org/us/what-we-do/global-programs/global-policy-advocacy/education
