By Joanna Gentle, staff writer
Access to education. A term that is used by many to describe the opportunity someone may or may not have to sit in a classroom and learn how to read, write, and solve basic math problems. Access to education is unfortunately not that simple in many places in the world. For many, access to a classroom is harder than just registering and having your children get on a school bus. For example, in countries such as Haiti in 2023, most parents still have to borrow money for their children to attend primary school. Even when school is free there are still barriers such as uniforms, transportation, and school supplies. This issue affects both genders, but it disproportionately affects women and young girls more. Most parents when given the chance will send their boys to school and have the girls stay home to help with family responsibilities. This has devastating effects on women's rights as without the ability to read and write, women cannot properly advocate for themselves by voting or through civic action. A report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), estimates that there are 130 million girls globally aged 6-17 who are not in school. That means that there are 130 million girls who could be filling classrooms but aren't. Whether it be because of family responsibilities or financial burdens, that is about 4 million classrooms that could be filled. This article explores and compares Women's access to education in various parts of the world. This is to bring awareness to the fact that there are still many women in the world who do not have access to education or have limited access.
When it comes to women's access to education, Switzerland comes to mind as one of the best examples where women are educated without barriers and allowed to thrive and contribute to society as they wish. According to SwissInfo, Switzerland has been the exception since the expansion of higher education in the mid-19 century across Europe by having women in higher education learn alongside their male counterparts. This direction that Switzerland took has helped many women have the opportunity to continue their education and even now, according to a recent government report, it is estimated that during the 2021-2022 school year 52% of the students in Swiss universities were women. The encouragement and access of education in Switzerland has had amazing outcomes with women being able to enter all kinds of fields and make many improvements.
Although many countries have made a great deal of progress concerning the access to education for women, there are still countries that have a long way to go in terms of allowing and encouraging women to get an education. Iran is an example of a country that is stuck in the old world where women are viewed as too weak to handle a professional job or even go to secondary school. According to the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, women currently can only attend segregated schools where they are only allowed to be taught humanities and arts. Iran also currently has one of the shortest education requirements in the world at just five years. Overall, there are many more issues with Iran’s educational system but in order to even begin fixing the education system Iran must begin to view women as human beings, which is the foundation needed to even begin remodeling the inequality and absenteeism of their education system for women.
After examining and being able to understand some of the additional barriers that women face when trying to gain an education, it can be concluded that awareness and national support is the best way to encourage countries to expand the educational opportunities of their citizens. It is also important to note that the biggest reason why women are being denied their education is because governments run solely by men believe that educating women will somehow “distract” them from their household duties of being daughters, wives, and mothers. This is the furthest thing from the truth and this belief is what traps women in household labor creating multiple cycles of poverty and inequality. Creating programs that specifically focus on bringing education to women in rural and urban areas will help solve this issue. Once these girls begin to get into classrooms and learn they can begin to choose their own ways of life and follow their passions. These governments need to understand that not educating half of their population is detrimental to them. By educating more of their population one can only imagine all of the advancements that can be achieved across all departments from medicine and technology to agriculture. It is time for there to be filled classrooms, full of boys and girls who have the opportunity to learn and make a better future.
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