More girls are enrolling in education than ever before, and the gap between educated women in men is narrowing. Based on a report given by UNESCO, 180 million more girls have enrolled in primary and secondary education since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a commitment signed in 1995 by 189 countries in which they pledged to advance the rights of girls and women. The report shows that the global enrollment rate for girls in school increased from 73% to 89%, and the biggest improvements are seen in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, especially in India. The reasons behind this inequality are historical, social and economic, as barriers like poverty and rigid gender roles place large burdens on accessing schooling. 

This push for women’s education did not stop at the primary level, with three times more women enrolling in universities than 25 years ago, and the most significant progress is seen in North Africa and Western Asia. Morocco has particularly excelled, reaching enrollment parity in 2017 after more than 20 years of the rate of enrollment being just 30 women for every 100 men. The report found that although women are present in the classroom more frequently, there is still a culture of dismissal revolving around women’s education, so the efforts toward educating women are now focusing on representation and validation. 

Ways You Can Get Involved:

In relation to the report, a personal way to involve yourself is to participate in the  #Iamthe1stGirl campaign, started by the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) sector of UNESCO. This campaign asks women and girls who were the first of their family to graduate from high school and/or university to share their own stories of education and success. By sharing your own story, you can inspire women and girls to continue fighting for their right to be educated. The stories have been shared on Instagram and Twitter by the GEM account, and while the campaign did not go viral, the social media interactions show girls being inspired to continue their education in real time. 

There are several ways to get involved financially, and most involve the direct sponsoring of a woman in the process of getting her education. World Vision has a simple and effective sponsoring process, and your money goes toward not only providing school supplies, but also ensuring that proper sanitation and transportation is offered to women at school. 

A fund with a story you may be familiar with is the Malala Fund, started by Pakistani girls’ education activist Malala Yousafzai in 2013 “to champion every girl’s right to 12 years of free, safe, quality education.” The money in the fund goes toward their board along with the leadership council and staff, championing “the creation of a more equal world by making sure all girls can go to school.”

On a smaller scale, you can ensure the girls and women in your community do not face barriers to their education by creating or participating in school supply and sanitary product drives and by sharing your own story about education. 

There are several ways to get involved in closing the gap. To donate towards causes that sponsor women’s education through providing instructors and supplies, you can visit World Vision or  Malala.org. 

In order to make sure that menstruation does not interfere with learning, you can donate money and time to several organizations that supply period products like, DoSomething.org. Two other organizations that also supply products are, DayForGirls.org and BintiPeriod.org. Days for girls is a women’s equality organization so it provides other avenues of involvement as well. 

To donate school supplies you can visit, Kinf.org to help students in the United States. Another school supply organization, Classroom Central, finds local schools in need of donations. For international involvement, you can directly donate to UNICEF USA. 

For those who want to learn more information and sign petitions, Plan International provides both on their website, Plan International.  Another petition to sign can be found on One.org where you can pledge to support the closing of the gender education gap. Lastly, you can even start your own fundraiser for school supplies and education funding at Room to Read.

Renee is currently an English student at The University of Georgia. She lives in Ellijay, Georgia, a small mountain town in the middle of Appalachia. A passionate writer, she is inspired often by her hikes along the Appalachian trail and her efforts to fight for equality across all spectrums. She hopes to further her passion as a writer into a flourishing career that positively impacts others.