IFUW-WOW Joint Statement to CSW 2012: Education for Rural Girls

Helmi-maaliskuun vaihteessa suuri joukko naisia maailman eri puolilta kokoontuu New Yorkiin YK:n Commission on Status of Women kokoukseen. Yksi paikalla olevista järjestöistä on IFUW, meidän keskusjärjestömme. Tässä on yksi sen esittämistä lausunnoista. Kokouksen aiheena on maaseudun naisten elinolojen parantaminen. IFUW ottaa kantaa tyttöjen toisen asteen koulutukseen. Koko lausunto löytyy IFUW.org sivulta. 29.1.12. MLT

© UNESCO / Akhtar Soomro

Education, a Crucial Foundation for Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment

Access to quality secondary education is essential if girls, particularly rural girls, are to achieve their full economic potential.  A joint statement submitted by IFUW and the Worldwide Organization for Women (WOW) to the Fifty-sixth Session of the Commission on the Status of Women to be held in 2012, points out that there is a clearly established, positive relationship between keeping girls in school and future earning power.  Each year of secondary schooling increases girl’s future wages by 10 to 20 percent, but for many girls this remains an unattainable dream.  Girls under the age of 16 make up more than 90 per cent of the global domestic work force, and out of 130 million out-of-school young people, 70 per cent are girls.

Significant barriers continue to keep girls out of school.  These rang from lack of financial resources, traditional preferences for educating boys, distance to schools, lack of safe school facilities and environments, lack of female role models and traditional religious and cultural practices such as female genital mutilation and early/forced marriage.

If rural women are to achieve their full economic potential, we must also look beyond school enrolment and completion, to question the quality and relevance of the education provided. Students, particularly girls, must learn core and specialised skills that will equip them for entry into the labour market. This is far from the case in many rural areas. Educated rural girls face disappointment if unable to find jobs that meet their qualifications. Other girls, seeing that staying in school does not lead to income, have little incentive to continue their education.

The International Federation of University Women (IFUW) and the Worldwide Organization for Women (WOW) urge governments, both from developing countries and also those countries that provide development assistance, to ensure that policies and programmes are put in place and that the necessary financial resources are provided to ensure that girls can enjoy full access to secondary education that provides a sound basis for their economic future.
This statement was prepared with input from IFUW member in India, Nepal, Nigeria, Rwanda and Sierra Leone