1. Girls’ education leads to increased income, both for individuals and nations as a whole

Providing girls one extra year of education beyond the average boosts eventual wages by 10 to 20 per cent.  A 100-country study by the World Bank shows that increasing the share of women with a secondary education by 1 per cent boosts annual per capita income growth by 0.3 percentage points — this is a substantial amount considering that per capita income gains in developing countries seldom exceed 3 per cent per year (Dollar and Gatti 1999).

2. More productive agricultural outputs

More productive farming due to increased female education accounts for 43 per cent of the decline in malnutrition achieved between 1970 and 1995 (Smith and Haddad 1999).  If women farmers in Kenya had the same education and inputs as men farmers, crop yields could rise by 22 per cent (Quisumbing 1996).

3. Educating girls leads to smaller, more sustainable families

When women gain four years more education, fertility per woman drops by roughly one birth (Klasen 1999).  A 65-country analysis finds that doubling the proportion of women with a secondary education would reduce average fertility rates from 5.3 to 3.9 children per woman.

4. Educating women saves children’s lives

An extra year of girls’ education can reduce infant mortality by 5 to 10 per cent (Schultz 1993).  In Africa, children of mothers who receive 5 years of primary education are 40 per cent more likely to live beyond age 5 (Summers 1994).

5. Educated girls are less likely to contract HIV

A study of Zambia finds that AIDS spreads twice as fast among uneducated girls (Vandemoortele and Delamonica 2000).  Young rural Ugandans with secondary education are three times less likely than those with no education to be HIV positive (De Walque 2004).  A review of 113 studies indicates that school-based AIDS education programs are effective in reducing early sexual activity and high-risk behaviour (Kirby et al 1994).

6. Education can foster democracy and women’s political participation

A 100-country study finds educating girls and reducing the gender gap tends to promote democracy (Barro 1999).

(List from the 2009 Because I am a Girl Report, page 158).

(Photo Credit: House of Sims)