Females In India Need Education Now

So I wrote an essay for history and I really like it. Enjoy

Females In India Need Education Now

The conditions for girls and women in India are not the best, to say the least. Girls and women in India are being highly discriminated against in the government, workforce, and in everyday society. Women are sometimes seen as a burden because they seemingly have little ways to provide for themselves.  Mothers pray to bear boys so that their families can “prosper.”  Females are shunned for their curiosity and don’t feel empowered. Suicides are not infrequent   to get young brides out of marriages. Inferior and female are two very connected words in many parts of Indian culture. There are more child brides in India than any other country (Girls Not Brides). Not surprisingly then, India is the 8th worst country to live in as a women (Khan). Because of female infanticide and hate crimes, there are only 914 girls for every 1,000 boys in India (Xu). But, education is changing these statistics and long held beliefs. Women and girls are able to rise up and reach their full potential after being educated. Education is the key to break the vicious cycles that destroy society. The lack of education for females in India is a huge problem because it encourages early marriage, limits economic growth, feeds the fire of illiteracy, and enforces gender roles while limiting empowerment.

When females aren’t educated, they have a higher chance of being married and having babies at a very young age. 47% of girls are in India are married before they are 18 and 18% are married before they are 15 (Girls Not Brides). But when more girls are educated, they can have the skills necessary to provide for their family and been seen as useful. In turn this creates social change where girls wait to marry and instead pursue careers of their interest. Mothers who know what horrors early marriages bring wait to arrange a marriage for their daughter, or don’t arrange one at all. In addition, when a mother is literate, her child is 50% more likely to survive past age 5 (Canadian Feed the Children). When education is introduced into the social construct of child brides, everyone prospers.

Economic growth in India is limited when females aren’t educated. When a girl gets an education she can earn the skills to enter the work force and money to help her family and village thrive. “A single year of primary school increases wages earned later by five to 15 per cent for boys and even more for girls” (Canadian Feed the Children). Many girls don’t attend school because money used for school fees is saved up for the girl’s dowry or used for the boys in the family. Yet when this money is invested in education it will truly make money for all. After the girl receives the expertise on how to perform a certain task, the girl can get a job in a field of interest while providing for her family and becoming a role model for other girls in the community. “In India, if women participated equally in the labor force, the country could see an additional 10 percent income per capita by 2020.” (Howard). Education for women and girls is the key to ending poverty in India.

Illiteracy continues throughout generations when girls and women aren’t educated. When girls learn to read they see the value in literacy and are more likely to have their daughters educated. In fact, mothers are more than twice as likely to send their children to school if they are educated themselves (Howard). They cycle of illiteracy can easily be broken when a girl in the family learns to read. Then this girl will pass along the value of schooling to her children and her children will pass it down to their children. “ If you teach a boy, you educate an individual, but if you teach a girl, you educate a community”(Mortenson, 13).  As mentioned before, education is the answer to abolishing poverty. Therefore, the answer to building blossoming communities rich in both knowledge and wealth is education for the females in the area.

Gender roles and disempowerment go hand in hand with the lack of female education. Education inspires curiosity and with curiosity comes new information. For many, learning how to read opens up the world. Girls and women may realize that there is more than one way to go about a problem and that there are other things to do with life than to become an unhappy young mother and wife. Girls are able to deconstruct social norms by becoming lawyers, or running their own businesses. An educated women has the tools to become something greater than a hardship. Education creates hope that causes women to take hold of their dreams and follow their hearts. When education is made readily available to women and girls in India, women are empowered to follow their dreams and in turn inspire the next generation of girls to do the same.

The inadequacy and shortage of female education in India is a huge problem that creates child brides, a stagnant economy, illiteracy throughout generations, and disempowerment of females. Yet, when countries provide access to education for all sexes, the results are stunning. Educated people live safer, easier, and overall better than their counterparts. People can break the cycles of poverty, illiteracy, disempowerment, and early marriage with an education. Education for girls and women in India  is vital to create an environment that flourishes.

Works Cited

"Breaking the Cycle of Poverty with Education." Features. Canadian Feed The Children, n.d. Web. 25 May 2015. <http://www.canadianfeedthechildren.ca/news-views/features/breaking-the-cycle-of-poverty-with-education>.

Empowering Women and Girls: The Key to Alleviating Poverty. Prod. Bill Gates. Perf. Jacqueline Howard. Empowering Women and Girls: The Key to Alleviating Poverty. Bill Gates, 21 Jan. 2015. Web. 25 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=62&v=qrO2yskc62w>.

"India - Child Marriage Around The World. Girls Not Brides." About Child Marriage. Girls Not Brides, n.d. Web. 25 May 2015. <http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/child-marriage/india/>.

Khan, Ejaz. "10 Worst Countries for Women in The Developing Word." WondersList. Wonderslist, 29 Mar. 2013. Web. 25 May 2015. <http://www.wonderslist.com/10-worst-countries-for-women/>.

Mortenson, Greg. Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan. New York: Viking, 2009. Print.

Xu, Beina. "Governance in India: Women's Rights." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 10 June 2013. Web. 25 May 2015. <http://www.cfr.org/india/governance-india-womens-rights/p30041>.