While people around the world say that they fully support equal rights for men and women, in reality men and women are treated unequally. According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), worldwide, 32 million of primary school-age girls and 97 million of secondary school-age girls are out of school. Gender bias is the main barrier to the girl’s education. Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistan girl, is an education activist who is fighting for the right for women's education. The Taliban took control of her town in Swat Valley and banned girls from going to school. She felt injustice and spoke out publicly on behalf of girls and their right to learn. In October 2012 on her way home from school, a masked gunman shot Malala on the left side of her head. The shot wakes up everyone in the world and forces them to think: WHY did a 15-year-old girl get shot just because she was eager to learn? Female education could empower women with a more independent spirit and a more educated life. Women who have education have higher wages and more stability in work. Let’s discuss female education in depth in terms of Education & Knowledge, Courage & Honor, and Resilience & Success.
Well-educated women have the skills and knowledge needed to become better moms, productive workers, and profitable citizens, which in turn, could even contribute themselves to the society and the country. Even though in some places or countries education might be hard to obtain, every girl and woman should be encouraged or provided opportunities for education. The Taliban restricted girls from going to school because they think women should do ladylike actions, like washing clothes. Malala has the power of knowledge, even though she only receives elementary education, to fight for the injustice for women and become an education activist. Some people think when men are outside working, women should take care of the children or do housework. But women are more than that if they have a chance to study at school. Girls’ education does not just mean getting girls into school. It also means that girls have the opportunity to complete all levels of education and learn the knowledge and skills needed for the labor market. A Recent World Bank study estimates that “limited educational opportunities for girls cost countries between US $15 trillion and $30 trillion in lost lifetime productivity and earnings”, which could help lift households, communities and countries out of poverty. Providing women equal education rights as men allows women to develop knowledge and skills for making better decisions, which could strengthen economics and reduce inequality.
It takes huge courage for women, who are eager to learn, to really go to school and speak up for themselves, which brings honor, even though they are under the pressure of life-threatening situations. Women with true courage have a clear mindset and self-awareness of knowing what is the right thing to do, although those things might cost their lives. Malala stood up for the right thing: to have women getting education. She knew she might get terrible punishment but she didn’t hesitate to think about her risks. Even though she got shot by the Taliban, she says the shooting had taken away her fear of campaigning for women’s rights. Her courageous behavior brings honor to her and her family. The most pressing reason why girls and women, especially from poor families, are unable to go to school: housework. For education, Women are not just fighting with their families, they are actually fighting with the stereotypes in society. In India 4 million girls are out of school because of the housework. Of those who do attend primary school, 80% drop out before reaching 8th grade. Pratham provides India female dropouts, ages 14 and older, from underserved communities a second chance to earn their 10th grade standard diploma by reinforcing core concepts and providing subject-specific tutoring. The results show a 50 % increase in the number of dropouts re-engaged in learning. This alternative learning model has positively impacted 36000 girls and women. The educated females benefit the whole communities and find better jobs, which brings honor to them and their families. When women are courageous enough to study at school, the results of studying will honor their brave decisions.
Women use resilience as a channel to guide them and direct them, and reflect themselves for the success of their goal. This resilience leads women to take the pain of disrespect and discrimination, even get hurt, and use it as fuel to propel them to move forward. Malala clearly knows she would get punishment but she still stood up for women's education rights. Malala is fearless even after she got shot by the Taliban. In fact the shooting event motivates her to do more campaigns against the Taliban for the rights of women. This later resulted in the success of Malala, along with other people who protested for civil rights. In reality, women tend to have more obstacles to pursue education because they are shouldering the burden of care and housework. Resilience teaches women to be strong and propel them to keep trying and trying until they succeed. LePage-Lees conducted a 2-year study of women who achieved highly in academics but who had been raised in low-income homes and had faced stress and obstacles as children. She had in-depth interviews with 21 participants with a range age from 24 to 54. The results showed that the difficulties and challenges they faced as children did not force them to give up their dreams. Instead, they led them to seek out reinforcement in other places, and they did this by being good girls and having good grades in school. Few of them later become educational leaders to promote women education. Women with disadvantaged backgrounds could be successful in education and other things if they hold the resilience still.
Malala was an ordinary young girl but she did some extraordinary thing: Stand up for women’s education rights. She was just a girl wanting to learn at school but got shot? The shooting event raised everyone's attention in the world to think about female education. Female education has been a debatable subject, even now. From Malala’s story, we have learned that Education gives women the power of knowledge, and later educated women could use this power of knowledge to contribute themselves to society. In addition, underprivileged women need to take courage to speak up for themselves for education. Only receiving education could bring them the change to the success of what they want and bring honor. Moreover, obstacles might cost them some valuable things, like taking life, but fearless women never give up and create success. Malala had created a big step in the revolution of female education, and made the idea of female education reconsidered.
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