The Literacy Mission of Rotary: Why Educate Girls?
  
As per unicef.org/gender-equality, 60 million girls worldwide have no access to basic education. Of the 960 million people who are illiterate worldwide, two-thirds are women.  Around 129 million girls are out of school, including 32 million of primary school age, 30 million of lower-secondary school age, and 67 million of upper-secondary school age. In countries affected by conflict, girls are more than twice as likely to be out of school as girls in non-affected countries https://www.unicef.org/. Globally, 1 in 4 girls (age 15-19) are neither employed nor in school, compared with 1 in 10 boys. As per a World Economic Forum report https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2021, women continue to face economic impediments, unequal wages, challenging workplace conditions, and exclusion from meaningful economic and political productivity. As per a new report on https://www.unesco.org/en, the costs for gender gap in education, adds up to $10 billion a year.
 
Some of the critical outcomes of elevated levels of Girls’ Education include:
 
  1. Better employment opportunities leading to greater levels of financial independence among girls. In the US, for example, the mean earnings for women in 2021 stood at $65,987 per year. However, there was a difference of $97,380 in the income of women with a high school diploma versus a professional degree https://www.statista.com/. An extra year of secondary school for girls can increase their future earnings by 10 to 20 percent.
  1. STEM and digital literacy as pivotal tools for lucrative careers for girls. The global participation of women is much lower than men in the STEM workforce. As per https://www.undp.org/, “Skills in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) are vital tools for women to play a constructive role in tackling critical and urgent sustainable development problems, ranging from climate crises to food security to gender-based violence.”
  1. Rising graph of economic productivity in family, community, and society co-relates with girls’ education. As per https://www.usaid.gov/ (2017-20), if 10% more adolescent girls attend school, a country’s GDP increases by 3%. Cutting down the school drop out rates both for girls and boys would increase annual GDP growth by 1 to 2%.
  1. Better Health and Wellness Outcomes for Families, including mental health and substance abuse disorders. A child whose mother can read is 50% more likely to live past age 5. Increasing educational opportunities for girls and women leads to reduced domestic abuse and violence, and a reduction in the rate of social malpractices like child marriage. Education empowers women with an increased ability to promote safe environment for children and young generations to thrive https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/criminol/1/1 (2018).
 
Girls’ education can create greater awareness and agency among women to tackle climate change. As per an article by Christina Kwauk on February 10, 2021 https://www.brookings.edu/, women are more prone to extreme effects of climate change, and can tackle issues related to reproductive health, pro-environmental decision-making, and access to “green skills for green jobs” with a mode of education focused on environment. A detailed review of the ways in which organizations like “Greening Education Partnerships,” A detailed perspective on the ways in which organizations like Rotary International and UNESCO are promoting Climate Change Education in schools is available on the following link https://www.imembersdb.com//accounts/10614/Newsletter/0/07-2024%20Green%20education%20takes%20root%20across%20Rotary.pdf. A detailed view of the ways in which Rotary, UNICEF, and educational communities are fostering sustainable living and biodiversity among global communities is accessible on the following edition of the ESRAG Newsletter https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/WhctKLbFTwqLxbFRGXWrpFBzpkKCmrlGVmVJxJqtWgzKKbQgtMvflmJDgbCrTPxnJtfJzqq?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1.