MDGs: Achieve Universal Primary Education and Promote Gender Equality

In this week's class we discussed the goals promoting universal primary education and gender equality. We combined the two goals (MDGs two and three) because a large part of achieving universal primary education involves educating girls, since so many of the world's illiterate and uneducated are women and girls. After watching this video, you should be able to understand why educating girls is not just important for equality sake, but for increased world development as well:

Why did the video say educating girls is so important? How is it related to reducing poverty and increasing development in poor countries?

Think about it ... what do we use education for here in the United States? An education means you will have more opportunities to work and provide for your family, right? In class we talked about how investing in women's education is a good investment because educated women are likely to have smaller families to have to provide for, they are more likely than men to spend money earned directly on their family's health, and they are less likely to marry early.

What are some of the other ways they explored that promotes equality for women?

• Globalization, they showed, provides more paid jobs for women than were ever available in the past. However, there are less paid jobs for women than there are for men, and women usually receive lower wages.
• Microcredit is another way to help women raise their status in society. Remember what microcredit is? They are small loans -- usually less than $100 -- that banks and companies give women to start their own small business. Because costs of starting a business are much lower than they are here in the US, these loans are useful for women who make jewelry, clothes or other goods to sell for a profit. This allows women to have even more earning power, and be more independent. It also has an impact on the economy of their country, because they are contributing to the wealth of that nation instead of relying on services provided by it. And again, the money women earn is much more likely to be spent on benefits to the entire family than if the money were earned by the male head of household.
• Politics is an area in which women are still lagging behind in terms of equality. Only 15% of elected officials worldwide are women.

To better illustrate the challenges women in poor countries face when seeking an education and a promise of a better future, we assigned an activity that shows the difference between education systems in America and in an African country (Namibia), and the difference between education opportunities for boys and girls in Namibia. Who do you think benefits from the freest, most accessible education opportunities -- American boys and girls, Namibian boys, or Namibian girls? Who probably has the least opportunity of receiving an education?

In our activity, where you live played the biggest factor in whether you would be able to get into college, and how much money you could be expected to make. American children, regardless of gender, are able to go to school throughout their youth. On the other hand, boys and girls in Namibia have to pay for schooling. Families in Namibia have tough choices to make when deciding which children, if any, they can afford to send to school. Why do so many families choose to send boys to schools but not their daughters?

Often, girls in poor countries are expected to help with work around the house, spending hours fetching water, cleaning, cooking and watching after young brothers and sisters. Furthermore, because there are few work opportunities for women, families feel an education is wasted on girls (but we know this isn't true). So not only did the Namibian girls in our simulation activity have a much lower earning power than their peers, they also had a much harder time competing for scholarships and getting into university.

Rights of the Child

No matter where a child is born, all children have needs --separate from those of adults -- that must be met in order for them to grow into healthy and productive adults. When discussing a child's needs in class this week, we took care to distinguish needs from wants. For example some things that may make you happy if you had them might include a new video game, expensive shoes, and trendy clothes. However, we would (hopefully) all agree that you can live without these things. Necessities are those things you cannot live without -- shelter, food, support from family, education, etc.

Unfortunately, whether or not a child's needs are met has a lot to do with where he or she is born. Children that are born in developing countries and in rural areas are much more likely to be poor. What are the consequences of children not getting access to the things they need in a country? To answer this, you would have to take a number of thoughts into consideration: If children don't have access to education will they be competitive workers in the labor market? If children have no access to healthcare, will they be able to work or go to school at all? What happens if they have no food? If most of the children in a country are plagued, or troubled, by these problems, can a country expect to grow economically without a viable workforce??? Taking care of the world's children means securing a brighter and more equitable future.

With this in mind, twenty years ago world leaders at the United Nations established the Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international agreement to protect childrens' rights. Recognizing that children are especially vulnerable to being exploited and abused, and that children have a different set of needs to ensure they develop into healthy adults, the document aims to protect children from the dangers they face, and promote their healthy mental and physical development. You can learn more about CRC at the UNICEF website: watch animated videos of the articles in the Convention, or get inspired by ideas on how you can take action on behalf of kids all over the world.