Assignment 16: Lena Ilagan

Imagine what your life could be like if all of your problems could just disappear.   That bald spot on the top of your head?  Poof.  Gone. That B you have in Physics?  Poof.  Gone. That dent in your car?  Poof.  Also gone.  Looks like a pretty nice world, doesn’t it?  Well, thanks to several developments by some very smart people, all of those problems can be fixed in just an instant.  We have Rogaine to fix that bald spot of yours.  You can study hard and do that extra Web HW to get your Physics grade up. You can take your car to the shop and have it fixed.  We can fix all of these simple problems and many others with efficiency and ease in today’s society, yet, we several problems still remain, ones that should have been fixed by now.  We can fix bald spots with a couple drops of some special chemicals, yet somehow a children are dying of an easily curable bacterial infection.  We can fix a Physics grade with a click of a mouse, yet somehow families have to choose which of their children gets to be sent to school.  We can fix a car dent with a handshake and a check, yet somehow some wives doesn’t know when her next beating will resume.  It seems rather startling that we as a first-world society chose to focus our attention on these small, mundane issues, rather than the large ones.  First world countries have more than enough resources to fix all of these issues that face the world today, yet continue to funnel their funds into mundane and futile affairs.  We can still fix these small details, but in order to better ourselves and the world for future generations, society needs to change, and educate their girls.  By educating half of the world’s population, we can fix not only the small details in our lives, but also the big ones.  Educating girls will significantly impact on the world, improving the countries’ public health, financial stability, and domestic safety.  This minute change to our society will result in remarkable outcomes.  If we wish to leave this world a better place than we entered it, then we must educate our girls.

Of the many problems facing the world today, its declining health remains the most pertinent.  According to the WHO, there are still over thirty million people living with AIDs/HIV today, and many more suffer from easily treatable diseases.  As First Lady Michelle Obama once said, “Communities, and countries, and ultimately the world are only as strong as the health of their women.” Many countries are increasing their STEM education opportunities across the globe, and if these opportunities are extended to girls, the possibilities are endless. According to the WHO, women in health only make up the lower sectors of the industry.  By including more girls in STEM education, nations could help them rise to the higher sectors of public health, and become the doctors and researchers.  These female doctors and researchers would give a better input to the problems facing their community, as they would be better suited to treat and research issues that exists only in women.  Additionally, if girls are in school, they have a decreased chance of becoming trafficked or pregnant, which drastically improves their quality of life. But the main benefit to public health rests in the fact that school ensures long withstanding ideas of wellness and health in the minds of its future mothers and leaders. Nations could significantly improve their nationwide health through the education of their girls, as with education, they would learn about the illnesses which affect their community, as well as the means necessary to prevent them.  If the world is to stay alive and well, countries must take initiatives to educate their girls.

Obviously, humanity can’t survive if it is unhealthy and riddled with disease, but neither can it if it is poor.  As the old adage goes, “Money makes the world go ‘round,” whether we like it or not.  The simple fact is we need money to perform the most basic tasks in an ever growing world.  That being said, countries ought to do everything in their power to increase their GDP, and one of the easiest and most beneficial ways to do that is through educating their girls.  With an extra year of education, girls can earn as much as 20% more as an adult.  20%!  Education opens up a vast network of opportunities to its girls, and will help them lessen the gender wage gap and find their way into higher sectors of work.  When India passed a legislation that enrolled 1% more of their girls into secondary school, they saw their GDP rise 5.5 billion.  5.5 billion, and that’s only in India.  Imagine what would happen if other countries took on similar endeavors.  There exists an indentured labor system in rural Nepal, which forces indentured servants called kamlari and kamaiya, many of whom are young girls. The system is essentially slavery, as those who sign a contract are at the beck and call of their master/employer.  Though it has been an ever-present facet of Nepal’s culture, it still poses an immense moral dilemma.  However, the government and other independent organizations have managed to curb the detrimental effects of such a system through education.  Various organizations such as the Freed Kamlari Development Forum have made efforts to educate those in the kamlari system, and in turn, many kamlari can gain the knowledge of their rights, and thus sue for freedom.  This education has led to an increase in social reform in Nepal, and has freed many kamlari from their bonded labor.  Educating girls gives them and their families the means to pursue better jobs and a higher standard of living.  If nations wish to better the lives of their citizens, it would be in their best interest to do so through educating their girls.

Of course, educating girls benefits both a country’s public health and its finances, but it also can erase one of the darkest stains on society today: domestic violence.  According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, in the United States alone, one in three women have been victims of domestic violence.  And that’s just in the united states.  Imagine what it’s like in other, less developed countries.  Low rates of education are proven to correlate with increased rates of domestic violence according to the WHO, many of the victims being women.  In order to decrease those rates of domestic violence, countries ought to adapt reforms which would educate their girls.  With increased education, girls will have a better knowledge of their given rights, and will thus have legal armor to protect themselves in.  When you put a girl through school, she will have less time to be in precarious situations, and will thus be less likely to be abused.  With that education, girls can go on to live successful lives, and can escape the world of domestic violence.

Works Cited

Armstrong, Sally.  Uprising : A New Age is Dawning for Every Mother's Daughter.  New York,  New York.  St. Martin’s Press. 2014. Print

Aura Freedom International.  “Educate a Girl, Change the World.”  Online video clip.  Youtube. Youtube.  July 4, 2014.  Web.  June 30, 2016.

Bandare, Namita.  “The Surprising Surge of Girls in the Classroom.” The Mint.  July 1, 2016.  Web. Accessed June 31, 2016.

Girl Rising.  Dir. Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri, Richard Robbins.  The Documentary Group and Double Exposure Studios, 2013. Film.

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.  “National Statistics.”  March 2016.  Web.  Accessed December 11, 2016.

World Health Organization.  “HIV/AIDs Statistics.”  2016.  Web.  Accessed December 11, 2016.

World Health Organization.  “Gender and Health Workforce Statistics: Issue 2”  February 2008.  Web.  Accessed December 11, 2016.

Yousafzai, Malala and Lamb, Christina.  I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban.  London.  Orion Publishing Group.  2013.  Print.