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Mrs. Colleen Flower
English Language Arts 121
18 May 2021
Girl’s Education: The Secret to Success
Imagine a young person determined to chase their dreams, only to be shot down because
of an inalterable factor, their gender. Unfortunately, this is the reality for 132 million girls out of
school across the globe (“Child Marriage”). Yet this problem cannot be simplified to third world
countries in Africa and Asia. This issue affects girls in nearly every classroom in the world.
Education - our most valuable resource - is being denied to those in need, causing indescribable
damage. Globally, period poverty, discriminatory dress codes, child marriage, and violence is
keeping an innumerable number of girls out of school; therefore, women are unrepresented in the
work force and unable to help their families rise out of the poverty cycle.
Predominantly, girls are missing school because of period poverty, meaning they cannot
afford the necessary feminine hygiene products to take care of themselves during their menstrual
cycle, which is affecting their education and sustaining the poverty cycle. Primarily, girls do not
have access to proper bathrooms at schools which prevents them from attending classes. In a case
study in Ghana, studies found that only 12% of girls had access to private bathrooms and only 38%
has access to unsanitary shared toilets (Rheinlander 4). After an inspection of the facilities,
researchers found:
In general, the toilets cubicles were of maximum 1.5 square meters, with just a hole to
squat on, small holes in walls as windows as the only lighting, bad smell emanating from
pits, and often with blocked pits which did not at all make a toilet visit a pleasant
experience. (Rheinländer 6)
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Additionally, girls are deprived of an education because they cannot afford pads or tampons, so
they are missing out on crucial learning time. In fact, nearly 1/10 Sub-Sharan African female
students face this problem, causing them to miss 20% of their schooling (“Girls Education”.
UNICEF). Consequently, these girls have less education to enter the workforce with, therefore
hindering economic development (“Girls Education”. The World Bank). However, this issue is
also seen in first world countries like the United Kingdom where many students rely on teachers
to provide these products for them because their families cannot afford to buy them (Olorunshola).
Unfortunately, a third reason why many girls do not attend school is the shame and discrimination
caused by being on their menstrual cycle. In fact, many schoolgirls in Ghana “said they feared the
public insults and shaming when visibly visiting these sites [public bathrooms] during school days”
(Rheinlander 7). As a result, many report feeling dirty, embarrassed, and being afraid of
punishment; so, the lack of bathrooms keeps them out of school and embarrassed of their bodies.
They are also more likely to marry young and become pregnant, without the ability to support a
child. Socially, these children are likely to grow up without proper social services, a stable source
of income, and an educated family. In conclusion, poor education bares girls from entering the
workforce, dooming their families to the poverty cycle; yet girls who rise above are still being sent
home because of sexist policies.
Alternatively, plenty girls are being sent home because of sexist dress codes, causing them
to miss school and feel shame, hindering their future careers. Even in developed countries, male
education is being favoured over female education. In a study done in 14 midwestern American
districts, researchers found that “School administration is simply worried that revealing too much
skin by girls attracts the male gaze and distracts them from academics” (Aghasaleh 9). So, school
officials could send female students’ home, pull them out of class, or suspend them, resulting in
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missing critical school time because they favour male students. As a result, female students were
taught to feel apologetic of their bodies, hurting their mental health. This builds a negative
connotation towards school, causing many students to stop attending, stop trying, and stop asking
for help when they need it most to succeed in their future careers. Now, many people argue that to
avoid this from happening, females should simply conform to dress codes. However, it was found
that consequences for infractions are not consistently enforced and are left up to individuals'
varying opinions (Martin and Brooks 5). This makes it confusing for girls trying to follow these
sexist rules, and cause girls to “lose more class time” (Martin and Brooks 16). Girls cannot comply
to rules unevenly enforced, so they are deprived of a right to education. Beyond just sexism, most
school dress codes target children living in poverty. This causes impoverished students to be
excluded from their studies because they do not own clean or well fitting, but not too tight, clothes
that school administration requires (Pavlakis and Roegman 3). This turns school into a place where
they feel dehumanized and unheard (Martin and Brooks 13-14). The fallout of these actions means
these students spend less time in classrooms learning the critical skills they need to enter
competitive and unequal work sectors that could help them raise their family’s socio-economic
status. However, these dress codes only affect girls enrolled in schools, unliked those forced into
child marriage.
Above all, child marriage is pulling girls out of school at a young age, forcing them to miss
out on a diploma that could lead to a higher paying job. Therefore, young girls who are victims to
child marriage receive even less formal education surrounding subjects like consensual sex and
skills to enter the workforce. In countries like Bangladesh, girls are being taken out of schools as
young as age 14 and forced into child marriage, usually with a man a decade or more older than
her (Hasan 9). In 2020, a study conducted in Bangladesh which interviewed over 51 000 girls aged
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15 to 49 found that “child marriage is a main driver of girls’ dropping out of school in Bangladesh”
(Hasan 9). This means that if girls could stay in school and away from a predator husband, they
could learn and grow more as a student. Sadly, this lack of education is hurting the physical and
mental health of these women. Speaking beyond the known risks of adolescent pregnancy such as
low birth weight, dangerous at home abortions, and infections, child marriage also affects a girl’s
mental health (“Adolescent Pregnancy”). In many of these relationships, girls are being raped by
their much older partners. The same Bangladeshi study interviewed a young girl about her
husband’s first few times raping her, describing it as “very uncomfortable until I got used to it”
consequently taking away her right to say no (Neetu 9). This means they will be unable to properly
educate the subsequent child about sexual assault and become burdened with a financial
responsibility of a child (Neetu 5). Financially speaking, the most significant impact of girls
dropping out of school is the negative impacts it has on the economy. In fact, if girls could stay in
school and learn new professions and trades, this would increase global purchasing power by 5960 billion by 2030, raising countless families out of poverty (Wodon et al. 8 and The Economics
Impacts of Child Marriage 1). Afterall, a study published in 2020 found that the “poorest
households had a higher prevalence with school dropout” meaning a student’s economic status
alters the probability of them graduating (Hasan 9). Altogether, the impact that child marriage has
on pulling girls out of school, hurting their health, and ruining economic development are key
reasons why victims are unable to leave the poverty cycle, educate the future generation, or enter
the workforce.
Furthermore, girls can even face barriers during the travel to school, which often includes
long journeys, difficult conditions, and violence. As seen in the On the Way to School
documentary, many kids must travel for hours every day to get to school. For example, Zahira is
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a young girl from Morocco that is the only one in her family to go to school, and they have high
expectations for her. For girls like Zahira, the travel to school takes several hours across mountains
and other rocky terrain. During their journey, they must beg others for help after their friend gets
injured. This means they arrive at school exhausted and injured, making it difficult to learn in the
classroom. As a rule, these girls also tend to travel alone or in small groups of other girls (Plisson).
This makes them more likely to fall victim to sexual assault, sexual harassment, and Gender-Based
Violence (GBD) (Wodon et al 2.; Pesamnili and Mkumbo 12). Coupled together with the risk they
face in the classroom, these threats are commonly the reasons parents or girls decide to stop going
to school, giving up on their futures. In the classroom, girls can find themselves face to face with
violence, prohibiting any learning. In fact, many girls must secure scholarships to far away
boarding schools because their home and surrounding communities do not offer higher or
specialized education that would allow them to enter competitive fields (Plisson). In 2014, the
world was stricken with this reality after nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped in the
night (Our Journey to Freedom 1). This attack ignited fear in millions across the globe, only further
discouraging girls from pursuing their education. For these students, many must choose between
the risk of sex trafficking and English class. This decision is clear yet devastating to a girls dreams.
To summarize, even when these students can get themselves enrolled in schools, they are
confronted with long and dangerous trips and violence that impedes their high learning, throwing
away any chance of securing a high paying job.
Overall, crisis’ like period poverty, dress codes, child marriage, and violence keep girls
from schools, abandoning them in the poverty cycle unable to work or educate their families on a
better solution. Period poverty keeps all menstruaters out of schools because of non-accessible
bathrooms, the cost of feminine hygiene products, and humiliates them. Dress codes across the
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world prioritize male education, harms the physical and mental health of young girls, and impacts
their education. Child marriage pulls girls out of schools, affects their health, and cripples
economic development. Violence forces girls to choose between life and a degree. How can society
continue to disregard these girls with solvable issues that would make the world a better place?
Works Cited
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doi:10.1007/s12111-0189397-5.
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