Educating women and girls is one of the most powerful instruments for jump-starting an economy and reducing poverty and inequality. Educated women earn more money. Their children are healthier, more likely to receive a good education themselves, and their daughters are less likely to marry too soon.
Educating women and girls is one of the most powerful instruments for jump-starting an economy and reducing poverty and inequality. Educated women earn more money. Their children are healthier, more likely to receive a good education themselves, and their daughters are less likely to marry too soon. Educated girls grow up to be educated women and to repeat this cycle. In short, education helps to turn women and girls into a powerful force for change.
It’s why, as part of its push for global Gender Equality, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, collaborates with partner countries to ensure that girls have equal access to education. In 2023 alone, USAID reached more than 18.7 million girls and women in 69 countries with education assistance and trained over half a million women educators.
“USAID is committed to investing in girls’ education around the world so that girls can pursue the education that they desire and the careers that they dream of,” said Jamille Bigio, USAID Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.
“We are helping to make sure in Malawi, in rural areas, that adolescent girls have access to secondary schools. We’re helping to make sure in Pakistan that girls who have completed secondary school have scholarships to pursue higher education. And we’re working in Somalia where out-of-school girls who have been impacted by the conflict there have opportunity to access skill training so that they can still have resources to support their next steps.”
USAID is also working with women to access better-paying jobs by helping them attain higher education and improve their professional skills, said Senior Coordinator Bigio.
“We are providing scholarships around the world so that women have opportunities without financial barriers to participate in education programs. We are providing training and mentorship programs across Africa for women who are interested in pursuing careers in the sciences and in agriculture so that they have an opportunity to be mentored as they continue in their … higher education research and early career opportunities.”
“We are also ensuring,” said Senior coordinator Bigio, “that there are women teachers and curriculum that support and set examples for women so that they see … they can serve in whatever career they dream of.”
Article Credit: newsgram