Hillary
Clinton began the “Equality for Girls and Women” segment of the 2014
Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting stressing the need for more
educational opportunities. Not just educational opportunities, but more
importantly, equal opportunities for girls. Through worldwide efforts, we have
reason to believe that we have more-or-less closed the gender gap in primary
schools, but when we get to the secondary level, it gets a little sticky. I am
very much in support of the idea that everyone has a right to education,
however, I think we may be taking a slightly idealized approach to solving this
problem.
One
point that cropped up not only here but also in the plenary I previously
discussed, “Putting Education to Work,” was that including women in the
workforce and education will end poverty. The first time I heard it, I thought
it was very profound (refer to my previous blog post for my initial reaction).
However, Clinton repeated it in her opening, and I found myself
wanting some sort of explanation. I was recommended to find the answer for myself using some
One
collaboration among many that have been born at the CGI Annual Meeting is
CHARGE, which stands for the Collaborative for Harnessing Ambition and
Resources for Girl’s Education. This initiative has caused donors to commit $600
million with the goal of sending 14 million girls to school in the span of five
years. Some of the specific goals of CHARGE taken from the Clinton Foundation website are listed below:
•
Ensure that girls can attend
and complete primary and secondary school;
•
Make schools safer and more
secure;
•
Improve the quality of learning
for girls;
•
Support girls’ transition to
higher education and employment; and
•
Cultivate local country leaders
to champion this work at the grassroots level.
This initiative has many different countries,
businesses, and leaders involved, which
shows a heartwarming global unity for this issue. Click here to find more information about CHARGE. Another interesting initiative that was featured in this plenary is the
African-based Solar Sister, which not only gives women economic opportunities, but creates solar powered lights so that students
can read despite the electricity situation.
I do have opinions on how the issue of equal
educational opportunities for girls should be handled. My one criticism for
this movement is the disregard for other societies' cultural practices. Just
because we feel that everyone has a right to education does not mean that every
other country, city, or province does. If people do not agree with a practice,
they will stop it if they want to, despite what anyone else thinks. In order to
open lines of communication with these stagnant groups, we should have
representatives from programs such as CHARGE or even government officials sit
down and explain the benefits of girls going to school past the primary level
or opening an all-girls school in town. If people see (for themselves) that a
practice can actually help their society, they will want to carry it through.
In general, humans are more willing to do something if they will gain from it
or if they are doing it of their own accord instead of being forced to. The
leaders in charge of these initiatives should keep this in mind.
Overall, I am pleased that people are taking
action on this issue. I think that empowerment through education is the best
way to achieve equality and is a practice I very strongly support. However, we
must be careful how we tread or else we may be stopped short of our goals.
Hillary Clinton during the "Equality for Girls and Women" segment of the CGI Annual Meeting
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