Educate Women And Save The World

By Neil the Ethical Werewolf

On how to solve the biggest problems in the world, this is something worth reading:

"I think it's very important for people to recognize that the lack of education for both boys and girls is a crisis in Africa," says Gene Sperling, director of the Center for Universal Education at the Council on Foreign Relations.  "But the benefits of girls' education, in terms of improving health, women's empowerment, and family well-being, probably does make girls' education the highest-returning social investment in the world."

The World Bank has found that when a country improves education for girls, its overall per capita income increases and its fertility rate drops. Other studies show that improved female education is linked to higher crop yields, lower HIV infection rates, and reduced infant mortality. UNICEF's annual "State of the World's Children Report" calls gender equity - particularly in education - a "double dividend" for developing countries.

"With education, the girl child will grow up and be a better mother - she will be better able to understand the importance of her own children being educated, and will be better able to provide for her children," says Sarah Crowe, a spokesperson for UNICEF in Johannesburg. "Men and boys are often out of the home," she notes, so that fathers are less able to teach their children what they have learned.

There's plenty of other good things to be said about women's education in the Third World.  Girls who can learn a useful trade and work outside the home are less likely to be pregnant all the time and contribute to overpopulation, since they (and their husbands) have financial incentives to keep themselves in a condition where they'll be able to continue with their jobs.  The money they bring in through their work also gives them extra clout in family relationships, which does a lot to correct for power imbalances that are particularly strong in countries that haven't benefited from a powerful feminist movement like America has.