The world has seen significant progress over the years, but there is one area that still leaves much to be desired: women’s education. Across the globe, women continue to suffer from extreme examples of patriarchal societies that keep them from receiving the same access to education as their male counterparts.
Take Africa, for example, where only a mere 14% of women in the low-income category graduate from secondary school. Even in the upper- to middle-income category, numbers peak at 57%. Overall, 122 million African people do not finish secondary school — and more than half of them are female.
What many of us don’t realize is that aside from improving women’s general welfare, access to education is also important for our increasingly global economy. Women leaders — active players in both the economy and the business of being female — have a special responsibility to address women’s education around the globe.
You don’t need to be a woman to realize why women’s education is important. From infant mortality to the spread of disease, women are facing a variety of challenges — challenges that education can help fight. When women are educated about these health issues, they have a better chance of avoiding them.
