„The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors
into
windows.“
[1]
(Sydney J. Harris)
When you look into a mirror you can only see yourself and the
little part of the world behind you. Otherwise, when you look through a
window you are able to see the horizon, the sky, trees and the street
you can walk along.
Until now, many educational windows are still closed for a great amount
of African women; windows that symbolize career opportunities,
protection against exploitation, the chance to emancipate themselves,
the possibility to develop and to provide a basis for a better life.
The only way to turn all the mirrors of suppression and external
determination into windows is education! ...
The Declaration of Human Rights contains among various others
the right to education.
Nevertheless this right is not observed in many
countries all over the world, due to a lack of resources for building
schools and due to the absence of teachers or because of cultural
reasons.
Africa is an example for the disregard of the right to education. There a great percentage of children is excluded from the right to education; about 55 percent of the children who do not go to school are female. [2]
In order to point out some of the reasons why girls
aren’t allowed to go to school you could answer the question
“Why are women and girls often excluded from the
access to
(higher) education?”
One reason, why girls often cannot go to
school is, that education is not accepted as an essential right in many
countries of Africa; and that is why there is not enough money spent
for building schools or to pay for teachers.
Another point is the traditional role of girls and women in African society.Their duty is to take care of the children and the household. And many fathers do not send their daughters to school for that reason and because they think that the education of girls is not as important as the education of boys. Due to the tradition that daughters get married at a young age and therefore do not have the possibility to take care of their parents when they get old, there is no necessity to spend money on one´s daughter´s education.
The conviction of many African people that girls are stupid
and therefore education is wasted on girls also hinders many girls from
going to school.
And even if there were schools many parents would not let their
daughter go, fearing that their daughter would get harmed on her way to
school.
To understand the urgency of fighting against the
contravention of the right to education, it is important to realize the
answer to the question “Why is education so
important for women in Africa?”
First of all education would enable women to
question the system of gender-related division of labor and the
dependence of a
woman on her husband. If women understood their suppressed and unjust
situation and role
in society -respectively in their families-, they
would consequently start to fight this injustice and offer their
children – especially their daughters – more
freedom of action and a greater range of self-determination.
That would entail an opportunity for the daughters to live a more
unconstrained life than their mothers have and an opportunity to break
out of this inflexible system of suppression.
In addition to that mothers, who are educated, would also impart a lot
of their knowledge to their children and therefore show them how
important education is.
They would give their children confidence and would probably take care
that they can go to school, too.
Besides that, women, who are able to read and to calculate, can protect
themselves from fraud when they buy food or other goods.
Another positive consequence would be, that higher educated women can
participate in politics and economics and be a role model for many
other African girls.
Furthermore, if more girls and women in
Africa were enlightened on sexual matters and on the risk of a the
possible
infection with HIV or
other venereal diseases,
they would get to know
how to prevent these diseases and therefore begin to preserve their
health and help to slow down the spreading of HIV and additionally do a
more conscious family planning.
Basic knowledge in writing, reading and calculating is a requirement for further vocational education and development. It gives women the chance to get a job, to earn money and to nourish their children when their husbands leave the family. That happens frequently, because African men often abandon their families just because the wife was violated, although women can´t defend themselves against abuse.
Altogether education always means empowerment in every area of
life.
It is important to offer the girls and all
other children in Africa an education that fits their life situation,
helps them to
understand their lives and to deal with it, as it promises them a
better life and helps them to get on in their course of life.
Therefore, education has to be accessible, acceptable and adaptable and
above all this it has to be available.
To comply with all these conditions of good and adjusted education is not easy, and to assist girls and women in standing up for their rights is not easy as well. But instead of being discouraged because of these facts, everybody should – confirmed by all the positive aspects of education – do whatever one can do to provide girls and women in Africa with the education that everyone is entitled to.
Magdalena Thalhammer
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