eGirl Power's blog

When we hear the word Madagascar, many of us think of the comedy animated film about zoo animals and their adventures in Africa. What many of us don’t know is that Madagascar ranks #15 among countries with the highest percentage of poorest females aged 7-16 who have never been to school. Never. 46 percent of the poorest girls in Madagascar have never gone to school. The country also ranks #14 among countries for the lowest average years of education for the poorest 17-22 year old females. In Madagascar, the average is just 1.8 years of school.

1. Education of women in developing countries directly contributes to the growth of national income by improving the productive capacities of the labor force.

   A recent study of 19 developing countries found that national long-term economic growth increases by 3.7 percent for every year adult population of average level schooling rises.

2. As female education rises, fertility, population growth, and infant and child mortality fall, while family health improves.

Female education across the world has a long way to go.

Recently, the Millennium Development Goals set a target of attaining universal primary education by 2015.

It will be a while before that happens.

In 2012, UNICEF reports, there were “61 million children of primary school who were not in school[,] and over half were girls.” While there has been some progress in regards to increasing female school enrollment, particularly at the primary level, women are still desperately at a disadvantage.

Advertising has, for a long time, been known as being part of an oppressive culture that helps distort the image women have on themselves. Being by portraying photoshopped images that show perfect – and unrealistic - models, or by referring to women as being solely responsible for housekeeping, thus the sole target of household cleaning commercials, advertising has been accused of perpetuating, or even worse, creating a limited, biased and frustrating unattainable image of women.

Education is key.

The ripple effects of education, particular girls in developing countries, cannot be comprehended. It can in no way be quantified. We CAN see, however, how an upward trend in girls’ education positively affects the larger community, future generations, and the future of women and children’s health.