When it comes to improving the status of women in the world, there is one very clear problem with a very clear solution.

The disparity in education for women and girls.

Although the contribution un-educated women make in society should not be underestimated, the data shows that educating women can make a huge impact on a country's economic growth and prosperity. The importance of education for girls is quite clear and it is even listed in the Millenium Development Goals (MGD) signed by majority of the world's countries. MGD 2 is to insure universal access to primary education for both boys and girls. MDG 3 is to promote gender equality and empower women. 

The data also clearly show educating girls reaps extraordinary benefits to those countries that make this investment. According to the World Bank, society benefits by educating girls and women through: 

• Reducing women’s fertility rates. Women with formal education are much more likely to use reliable family planning methods, delay marriage and childbearing, and have fewer and healthier babies than women with no formal education. It is estimated that one year of female schooling reduces fertility by 10 percent. The effect is particularly pronounced for secondary schooling.
   
• Lowering infant and child mortality rates. Women with some formal education are more likely to seek medical care, ensure their children are immunized, be better informed about their children's nutritional requirements, and adopt improved sanitation practices. As a result, their infants and children have higher survival rates and tend to be healthier and better nourished.
   
• Lowering maternal mortality rates. Women with formal education tend to have better knowledge about health care practices, are less likely to become pregnant at a very young age, tend to have fewer, better-spaced pregnancies, and seek pre- and post-natal care. It is estimated that an additional year of schooling for 1,000 women helps prevent two maternal deaths.
   
• Protecting against HIV/AIDS infection. Girls’ education ranks among the most powerful tools for reducing girls’ vulnerability. It slows and reduces the spread of HIV/AIDS by contributing to female economic independence, delayed marriage, family planning, and work outside the home, as well as conveying greater information about the disease and how to prevent it.
   
• Increasing women’s labor force participation rates and earnings. Education has been proven to increase income for wage earners and increase productivity for employers, yielding benefits for the community and society.
   
• Creating intergenerational education benefits. Mothers’ education is a significant variable affecting children’s education attainment and opportunities. A mother with a few years of formal education is considerably more likely to send her children to school. In many countries each additional year of formal education completed by a mother translates into her children remaining in school for an additional one-third to one-half year.

"... For example, for every 100 boys out of school in Yemen there are 270 girls, in Iraq 316 girls, in India 426 girls, and in Benin 257 girls (UNESCO GMR, 2007). "

"Only about half of all Saudi Girls attended school of any kind in the mid-1970s. A generatino later, Dean Haifa Jamal Allail is creating a source of world-class higher education for women."

"...Today, this story is still unfinished. 75 million children – over half of them girls – are still losing out on an education, and so losing out on life. 

That’s why we must support UNGEI and renew our commitment to the world’s children, especially girls. That’s why government leaders must recognize girls’ education as a top priority and create the legal framework to treat them fairly.

 

And, that’s why I’m speaking out: so their story does not go untold."

Education City, Qatar

Another example is Education City in the tiny Gulf Nation of Qatar. Located right otuside the city of Doha, Education City is an amazing proof of how far education for women has come in some cases. There is a Medical College run in Qatar in conjunction with Weill Cornell Medical School in New York. It has opportunities for women to attend medical school there.

 I think that traditionally it was not desired or even expected that women obtain any education, let alone higher education. I have noticed a distinct increase in the number of women who choose to pursue education and a change in the attitudes of their families. It is becoming more acceptable. As more powerful female role models arise regionally,  they are paving the road for young women in the middle east to move forward.