Kaylin Fussell

RCL 138 11
4/13/17
Professor Watkins

I Am a Female and I Believe in the Right to Education

Feminism is perhaps one of the most influential and prominent movements spreading
throughout the world currently, and continues to be a platform for equal rights everywhere.
Though feminism is composed of one single motive, which is for men and women to be equal,
there has been some discrepancy in recent years covering what feminism is actually trying to do.
Media and news articles tend to draw on this topic a lot, often portraying it in a negative light,
and one article in particular sparked my attention. I was scrolling through Facebook when I came
across a shared article entitled: I Am a Female and I Am So Over Feminists. I knew instantly it
was an article that wanted to be read and had a clear opinion to voice, one that would
undoubtedly anger many people, so I read it right away. Needless to say I was not shocked at
what the author had to say, as it was not necessarily things I had never heard before, but I was
more shocked at the complete ignorance that was imbedded in the words. The author first
introduces the article with this opening line: Im all about girl power, but in todays world, its
getting shoved down our throats. Relax feminists, were OK. 1This statement stood out to me in
particular because of its blatant lack of recognition, sympathy, and understanding for feminist
issues. The rest of the article continues to patronize a certain kind of feminists, ones who claim
they hate men and burn bras over trash cans, as the header to the article makes clear. This is
what stood out to me the most, and connected my thoughts to a much larger issue at hand.
If you are familiar with the concept of white feminism, then this article expands on that
concept in detail, but for all the wrong reasons. Most of the points the author makes are problems
you can only find in nations where there are not many other pressing problem occurring. The
author talks about how ridiculous it is for women to be offended when a man offers to pick up
the check, or hold the door open, or change a tire. As I was reading through, I discovered that I
had found the perfect example of white feminism and its problem at the core. White feminism
focuses on feminists who are only catering towards their own kind of feminist, specifically white
females. This type of feminism hones in on feminists who are unaware that feminism is fighting
for all females everywhere, including lesbians, transgenders, bisexuals, those who identify as
females, black feminists, Latina feminists, Asian feminists, etc. 2To give an example, the fact that
women make seventy-eight cents to every mans dollar is a highly discussed issue. However, if
ever heard in the news or in certain articles, the twenty-two cent difference is really all that is
ever talked about. Most are unaware that a black women makes sixty-eight cents to every mans
dollar, or a Latina woman makes fifty-eight cents to every mans dollar, and so on.3 So the
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question is: What happens when the gender wage gap is closed? A white womans seventy-eight
cents will increase to a dollar, but what about a black woman? Will she be paid the full dollar, or
will her pay be increased to only seventy-eight cents? These questions have never been
addressed while discussing the topic of the gender wage gap because we are a nation that is
focalized on the concerns of white feminists. It is the general unawareness of white females that
lead to the blocking out of underrepresented groups with larger, more pressing issues. The
centralization on western culture, and particularly western feminism, tends to freeze out the
gender discrimination that is taking place globally. If feminism is supposed to recognize all
females, why are we still faced with this issue? Although white feminists have fought long and
hard for their accomplishments and have made large strides in terms of turning around gender
discrimination, there are still obstacles to overcome.
One issue that people tend to overlook, that feminists seem to overlook, is the fact that
there are still countries where women are denied access to education. Education is regarded as a
fundamental right to everyone, at least that is how we view it in the United States. However, that
is usually only true to countries that are already developed and provide the support, economic
funding, and expectations for children to attend school. In developing countries, however, this is
a completely different story, especially in regards to young girls. This problem mostly stems
from where one is born, and developing countries are often more prone to have lower education
rates for women, but for many various reasons. In order to prevent more critical issues from
arising, and perhaps stopping the ones which already exist, offering public education to young
women is the best way to start.
The most critical factor that contributes to why young women are denied education is
based on where they are born. To put things into perspective, take a look at developed countries
such as the United States or Canada. It is law that children must typically start school at the age
of six and cannot drop out before the age of eighteen. However, in the public school system, and
the private school system as well, it is almost always implied that students will go much further
than high school. In 2016, about 70% of high school graduates in the United States were going
to, or were already enrolled in college.4 A college education has become a critical step in ones
life, and nowadays serves as a deal breaker for whether or not a job applicant will get a certain
job. We are also much more focused on STEM academics than most other countries, business
being the number one most popular major, psychology second, nursing third, and biology
fourth.5 Worldwide, there are fifty-seven million kids who do not attend public schools, 20% of
these kids being concentrated in West and South Asia, and more than half of this percentage
stemming from Sub-Saharan Africa.6 Many children drop out of school at early ages. Focusing
on sub-Saharan Africa, 56% of children complete a primary school education, and in 2010 there
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Professor Watkins
were 70 million children aged from ten to sixteen did not attend secondary school.7 This is a
drastic difference from the United States and Canada where education is so heavily reinforced
and is considered to be an important component of being successful in society. However, it is
specifically young girls in rural areas who are more often than not the ones being denied
education.8 These girls are usually born in crisis zones or militarized areas where school and the
funding for education is very low. In addition, many young girls drop out because these areas,
and their families, simply cannot afford the cost of school.9 Some girls may drop out to marry in
order to help the financial stability of the family. Even if they want to continue to learn, there
may not be a school around for them to be able to do so.
First and foremost, I want to focus on why educating young girls is important as opposed
to educating young boys. Not to say that education for all kids is not important, and that is
certainly its own issue with its own standing, but that there are reasons for why females have
been denied access and the right to education for so long. Of course, these reasons vary within
different areas of the world. One of the reasons within one specific area has to do with economic
value of school and the poverty within that area. Worldwide, there are 263 million children who
do not attend school. 10Of this number, half of these children live in in sub-Saharan African and
West Africa. Statistics show that fifty-six percent of sub-Saharan African girls will never enter a
classroom, and that eighty-percent of girls who are already out of school will more than likely
never to start school at all.11 To hone in even more, most of these numbers come from Nigeria, as
it has the lowest literacy rate of any country in Africa, stating that only twenty-percent of women
living in Nigeria are literate and have attended school.12 So why are these girls not attending
school? What are the barriers which cause such low attendance and literacy rates? One main
issue deals with poverty. Of ten countries in the world, Somalia, Niger, Liberia, Mali, Burkina
Faso, Guinea, Pakistan, Yemen, Benin, and Cote dIvoire only nine out of ten of the poorest
women aging from seven to sixteen will get to attend primary school.13 This is an alarmingly low
number, especially if you put into perspective how many American women not only attend, but
are expected to attend, school up until college. For Nigeria in particular, seventy-percent of the
population is living below the poverty line.14 This means that there is almost always no proper
funding for schools and the aspects necessary to run them. Most schools lack the proper supplies
to keep them maintained, such as desks, pencils, and classroom space. In addition, the student to
teacher ration is very unbalanced, at 1:100, due to lack of funding to pay for teachers.15 Poverty,
consequently, may lead for girls to drop out of schools for many other reasons. Many girls drop
out due to teenage pregnancy, others drop out to marry early in order to provide the family
money, etc.16Research also shows that in these schools, boys are usually given more chances to
ask and answer questions. Boys are also more likely to be chosen to lead groups and to be given
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better learning materials, hindering on young girls exposure to these education opportunities.17
However, this issue leads to a larger, more deeply-rooted problem than the one at hand. This
leads us to another reason why in other areas of the world, girls are denied education.
In addition to economic issues, religious problems may also arise which led to young
girls not being able to access the education they need. Perhaps the most prominent situation
which shows this issue involves a young girl named Malala Yousafzai. Malala was born in the
Swat valley in north-west Pakistan, an area which is now heavily controlled by the Taliban.
Malala loved knowledge and education since she was a young girl, as it was a large part of her
family and personal life. As the years went on, restrictions on education became greater as the
Taliban spoke outrightly about their opposition to education for women. Most of the Talibans
ideals come from the Pashtunwali beliefs concerning living in purdah, which are typically very
conservative ideals.18 The Taliban reject the Pakistani Constitution and aim to bring women back
to the chastity and dignity of women.19 The Taliban is known for their prominent sexism and
misogyny, thus restrictions became heightened for women and what they were allowed to do.
They were no longer allowed to go shopping, television and radio were banned, women were not
allowed to go out in public unless wearing a burqa and were accompanied by a male, were not
allowed to wear high heels, were not allowed to be depicted in any form of media, etc.20
Education remained the most restricted issue, however. A decree was passed stating that girls
above the age of eight did not need, and would not receive, any education.21 This obviously
effected many aspects of Pakistani life, including job security, income, and future education for
young girls. This raised a lot of backlash and had negative consequences. Women began to run
their own underground schooling systems, and if caught, death was punishment.22 Many schools
were destroyed by the Taliban, over four hundred were demolished by the end of 2008.23 Though
this rule applied to both girls and boys, the Talibans outspoken sexism made young girls more of
a target and thus, easier to control. Malala and her father, who shared a passion for education,
began to speak out against the decree. Malala began her own secret blog under a pseudonym
about her love for education and the fear of her school being attacked as well. She continued to
go to school and her and her father still spoke publicly about the absurdity of the decree. Malala
soon became well-known for her advocacy efforts and was awarded the National Youth Peace
Prize in 2011, and at the same time the Taliban had voted to kill her for her interference and
outspoken rejection of the decree. In October of 2012, a masked gunman followed Malala into
her school and shot her and her two friends in the neck and head, putting her in critical condition.
However, she survived the attack, and only made her passion for the issue grow stronger. People
around the world knew about Malalas attack and protests broke out in Pakistan. Petitions were
signed and rallies formed, and Pakistan ratified its first Right to Free and Compulsory Education
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Professor Watkins
Bill. However, Malalas efforts did not stop there. She extended her efforts to countries where
young girls were denied access to education because of any kind of restricting factor, whether
social, political, or economic. Malala formed a fund called Malalas Fund which reaches out
directly to advocators and policy makers, asking them to invest directly into girls education.
24Malalas goal is that governments spend at least twenty-percent of their national budget on

education, that every girl receives twelve years of education, and that countries increase the grant
to Gross National Income to at least .7% and donate the money to education and
schools.25Malalas main message is that the money is already there, and these programs are well-
able to be paid for, but the funds are instead being spent on different areas of concern such as
wars, weapons, and military conflicts. Malala emphasizes that in areas of war and conflict, girls
are more likely to be out of school, specifically secondary school. Girls are also afraid to go to
school due to fear of violence or attacks. Again, girls are a specifically marginalized group who
are either prohibited, or are afraid to attend school. This shows why it is important to focus on
girls in particular, and their progress into finding healthy and stable lives. To ensure the longevity
of a specific community, and its stabilization, education to the focus on education are vital.
Malalas example is just another example of why where one is born highly impacts their quality
and access to education. These areas are often the most highly-controlled due to military conflict,
and thus, education is further restricted.
On the positive side of the spectrum, ensuring the education of young women has many
life-long effects globally. Just to think about it within terms of educating both men and women
everywhere, there would be more global progress in respect to economic factors, the stability of
communities, and the increase of literacy. However, there is a reason so many organizations and
foundations continue to focus their efforts on young girls. Many factors that prohibit young girls
from attending school, and many factors that are a result of young girls not attending school, are
only problems that concern women. Marriage before the age of eighteen and children going
through childbirth are issues that are happening to these young women, yet somehow continue to
remain in the dark. If we educate young women, the effects would be greater than simply
teaching a girl how to read or teaching her how to live a stable, healthy life. Statistics show that
educated women are less likely to die during childbirth, reducing maternal deaths by two-
thirds.26 Maternal deaths in sub-Saharan Africa alone would be reduced by seventy percent if
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girls completed a primary education.27 In terms of primary education, the number of child deaths
would reduce by fifteen percent, and if all women
received a secondary education, child deaths
would reduce by half.28 Lack of education among
women also leads to starvation, which can stunt a
childs growth while growing in the womb.29 If all
women had a primary education, 1.7 million
children would not have to face the problem of
stunned growth, and that number would increase
to 12 million if all women received a secondary
education.30 To increase on this statistic even
further, malnutrition is the cause of more than one
third of childrens deaths, and thus, when mothers
are educated, they are able to have knowledge
about the proper food to feed their babies so they can have a healthy immune system, the proper
ways to keep them clean, and are able to provide income for the home to give their child healthy
food.31As mentioned before, girls who have not been educated are more likely to have children at
an early age. If girls in sub-Saharan Africa had a secondary education, sixty percent fewer girls
under the age of seventeen would become pregnant.32 When these girls are exposed to their
rights and their individual freedoms, they are thus improving their own chances at having a
healthy life and their ability to make decisions for themselves.33 Education leads to women
understanding their abilities, providing confidence and stability in themselves. This issue is also
tied with girls being married at a young age, and if girls were given a primary education, child
marriages would decrease by fourteen percent.34 If they were given a secondary education, that
number would become two thirds.35 To make reference to Pakistan and Malalas efforts, the
Taliban also put a hold on womens influence in the workforce, prohibiting almost all women
from working. This can lead to an economic deficit within
a nation. In Pakistan alone, women who have had a
primary education earn fifth-one percent of what men
earn, but women with a secondary education earn
seventy percent of what men earn.36 Consequently,
educated women are more likely to find work and are
more likely to keep working than woman who are not
educated. This then improves the prosperity of a nation
and its overall economic, social, and political growth.
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Professor Watkins
These statistics, overall, led back to the point concerning white feminism and its focus on
western concerns. Although it is not to say that white women do not face certain discriminations
in respect to gender, but it is about shifting the attention to giving women globally the basic right
to education and growth. Compared to the United States, women are not banned from attending
school, nor are they restricted from media or wearing high heels in public. Most girls in the
United States do not drop out of school early to help feed their family or to marry early in order
to provide income. These are the issues that are being faced in other countries, and are
particularly prominent in the ones mentioned.
A proposed solution to this issue is not anything novel or extreme because certain efforts
are already being made to help educate young women. First and foremost, its important to
educate the problem at its root, beginning with white feminism. The main concept with white
feminism is that there is no direct underrepresentation of certain groups either from a place of
malice or spite, but rather, its the focalization of white women which leads to other issues to be
ignored. Because of this, many white feminists tend to be put into a place of ignorance and as a
result, are unaware of a certain issue. That is why it is vital and necessary to start in the places
where education is a foreground, and if often considered a necessity among young girls. The
effects of this sort of education has already been shown through various foundations and
organizations specifically aimed at educating females. For example, the Malala Fund is funded
purely by donation and has already made strides towards helping education.37 It aims to provide
innovative ideas to deliver education to underdeveloped communities, encourages women to
recognize their individual rights to education, and tells the stories of girls like Malala who fought
for their education.38Another organization is called 60 Million Girls which is based in Montreal,
and is comprised of a team of like-minded individuals working together to help further education
in sub-Saharan Africa. Their main goal is to support at least two major education-related projects
ever year, ensuring that at least half of the children included in the project are young girls.39
Much like Malala Fund, it is a volunteer-based
organization and receives its funds from many
companies and donations from professionals. They
state that ninety nine percent of the funds they
receive go directly into helping the children in their
projects.40 Michelle Obama launched the Let Girls
Learn initiative in 2015, which focuses on the
certain aspects in developing areas which prohibit
girls from attending school, such as military conflict
and economic instability.41The idea with this
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organization is that the problem has to be attacked at its root: by first eliminating the factors
which inhibit girls from attending school, there will, hopefully, never be any reason for girls not
to go to school.42 There are, of course, many more organizations similar to these ones. A main
focal point that falls over most of them is addressing the fact that most of the time, there is no
one way to go about increasing girls education. In fact, most of these funds aim to eliminate the
outside factors first, by making the increase in girls education an effect. Malalas Fund also adds
to this by reinforcing the idea that many governments have the money to support education, but
they are spending it in other departments.43 Malalas Fund points out that by making public
school free everywhere, and by eliminating schools fees, girls are more likely to attend school.44
The question of how long is takes for kids to get to school is also a large factor because statistics
show that by building schools closer to the girls homes, they will be more motivated to attend.45
Consequently, if a school is built near a populated area with many young children, teachers are
more likely to be local and thus, have a stronger connection with the children and the children
will feel more comfortable. 46Along with that, though some girls receive education, they do not
learn to the full extent. Training teachers is vital in teaching young girls, and is often more
effective when the schools conditions are improved and they become more geared towards
ensuring a safe space for women. This means that teachers are educated on gender equality and
sex education, the schools are sanitary and are equipped with the proper resources, and girls are
given leadership opportunities in and out of class.47 All proposed solutions have been effective
and are continuing to show results, but its important to keep these foundations and organizations
running so that they can continue to improve. Again, this issue all begins with the developed,
wealthier countries who are able to provide aid and resources for schooling systems in
developing countries. It begins with recognizing that there is a larger issue at hand, and is one
that many developed nations do not have to think twice about. It is important to begin where we
can, and that is right at home.

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1Gina Davis, "I Am A Female And I Am So Over Feminists," Odyssey, May 02, 2016, , accessed April 12, 2017, https://
www.theodysseyonline.com/female-over-feminists.

2 Saadia Muzaffar, "Dear White Feminists: Your Good Intentions Don't Matter," The Huffington Post, December 02, 2016, ,
accessed April 12, 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/a-letter-to-open-minded-genuinely-kind-
educated_us_58404ebce4b0b93e10f8dffc.

3 "The Pay Gap Is Even Worse for Black Women, and That's Everyone's Problem," AAUW: Empowering Women
Since 1881, , accessed April 12, 2017, http://www.aauw.org/2015/07/21/black-women-pay-gap/.

4"College Enrollment and Work Activity of 2015 High School Graduates." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. April 28,
2016. Accessed April 12, 2017. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nr0.htm.

5 Ibid.

6 Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, BMZ. "The situation in developing countries." Federal Ministry for
Economic Cooperation and Development. November 09, 2014. Accessed April 12, 2017. http://www.bmz.de/en/issues/
Education/hintergrund/bildungsituation/.

7 Ibid.

8"Equitable access." UNICEF. January 27, 2016. Accessed April 12, 2017. https://www.unicef.org/education/
bege_61657.html.

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.

13"Education for All Global Monitoring Report." United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization,
October 2013. http://en.unesco.org/gem-report/sites/gem-report/files/girls-factsheet-en.pdf.

14"Equitable access." UNICEF. January 27, 2016. Accessed April 12, 2017. https://www.unicef.org/education/
bege_61657.html.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

17 Ibid.

18 Marsden, Peter. (1998). The Taliban: War, religion and the new order in Afghanistan. London: Zed Books Ltd, ISBN
1-85649-522-1 pp88-101.

19 Ibid.

20Some of the restrictions imposed by Taliban in Afghanistan. Accessed April 12, 2017. http://
www.rawa.org/rules.htm.
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21 Ibid.

22Michael Griffin (2001). Reaping the Whirlwind: The Taliban movement in Afghanistan. London: Pluto
Press, pp6-11/159-165.
23 Ibid.

24 Fund, The Malala. "The Commitment." The Malala Fund. Accessed April 12, 2017. https://www.malala.org/12years.

25 Ibid.

26"Education for All Global Monitoring Report." United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization,
October 2013. http://en.unesco.org/gem-report/sites/gem-report/files/girls-factsheet-en.pdf.

27 Ibid.

28 Ibid.

29 Ibid.

30 Ibid.

31 Ibid.

32 Ibid.

33 Ibid.

34 Ibid.

35 Ibid.

36 Ibid.

37 Fund, The Malala. "The Commitment." The Malala Fund. Accessed April 12, 2017. https://www.malala.org/12years.

38 Fund, The Malala. "The Commitment." The Malala Fund. Accessed April 12, 2017. https://www.malala.org/12years.

39 "About us." 60 million girls. Accessed April 12, 2017. http://60millionsdefilles.org/en/about-us/.

40 Ibid.

41 "About." Let Girls Learn. Accessed April 12, 2017. https://letgirlslearn.gov/about/.

42 Ibid.

43 Fund, The Malala. "The Commitment." The Malala Fund. Accessed April 12, 2017. https://www.malala.org/12years

44 Ibid.

45 Ibid.
46 Ibid.
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47 Ibid.