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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Remarks by J. Brady Anderson,
Girls' Education Symposium
USAID Administrator
May 17, 2000
Thank you, Kathy, and good morning everyone.
It's a pleasure to be here and see so many development professionals gathered to discuss what I personally believe to be one of the most important issues in development: girls' education.
Throughout history, men and women have hungered for education.
Every great civilization on earth has revered knowledge and learning.
Today, the need for a good education is understood and accepted all over the world.
In this new era of globalization, literacy and math cannot be over-emphasized-because these skills are the very foundations of our children's future success.
In development, education plays a particularly important role. As my old friend, the late President Julius Nyerere, once said, "Education is not a way to escape poverty, but a way of fighting it."
We know that girls' education, in particular, is perhaps the single most important investment a developing country can make.
We know that mothers who have at least six years of primary education are more likely to educate their children. That they are more likely to have healthier children, and have them later in life.
We know that educated women make better workers, and that they are more likely to participate in their government. And of course, we know that they are more likely to earn higher wages.
We know this is true because in places like the state of Kerala, in the south of India, literacy is almost universal. And in Kerala the infant mortality rate is the lowest in the entire developing world-and the fertility rate is the lowest in India.
Here in America, we know that the median incomes of women who have not completed high school are nearly 40 percent lower than those who have-and that they are three times as likely to receive public assistance.
All over the world, study after study shows that investing in girls' education helps turn the vicious cycle of illiteracy, poverty, and high child mortality into what Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has called a virtuous cycle of education, economic progress, and health.
As we enter the 21st century, nearly a billion people-one-sixth of humanity-cannot read a book or sign their names. Two-thirds of these people are women.
Today there are over 130 million school-age children worldwide who are not in school-73 million of them are girls.
The challenge facing all of us here today is how to get the virtuous cycle started.
At USAID, we believe every sector of society has a role to play in making quality education available to every girl and boy.
Governments have a particularly important role to play-indeed, theirs is the primary role-because they provide not only the financing but the policies that can make girls education a priority.
Girls' education must take place in the context of equality before the law: we must send the message to women and girls everywhere that they are as valued in society as their brothers, fathers, and husbands.
Twenty-eight years ago, for instance, the United States passed landmark legislation, known as Title 9, which helped guarantee equal access to education.
Today, American women make up a majority of the nation's college students-and a majority of those receiving master's degrees.
And, although we still have a long way to go in achieving income parity, studies have shown that the income gap between men and women in the United States narrows with increased levels of education.
One of the most encouraging signs I have seen in recent years is that leaders around the world are realizing the importance of equal access to education-and they are taking action.
Last year, for example, Peru's Minister of Education, Dr. Felipe Garcia, announced that Peru's education budget would be increased and policies would be adopted to "…ensure access to education for all children."
Also last year, Guinea celebrated its first National Girls' Education Day on June 21, with well-known community leaders broadcasting the importance of girls' education over national radio and TV.
This is the kind of commitment and dedication we need if we are to realize our goal of a quality education for every child.
I have already mentioned that governments must pass laws and policies that recognize women's rights. What else can they do?
They can also address the barriers that keep girls from going to school.
For instance, providing rural villages with water and electricity increases the chances of girls receiving an education. In some cultures, establishing separate schools for boys and girls, or having women teachers teach girls classes, does the same.
Let me emphasize here, though, that the role of government, while critical, is by no means the only role-the private sector can make important contributions as well.
One of my favorite stories in this regard comes from Morocco.
As a result of the 1998 International Conference on Girls' Education, sponsored by USAID and other donors, the Business-School Partnership Association and the government of Morocco are working together to support 600 schools.
Officials from businesses get together with leaders from the community and essentially say-what do you need? How can we work together?
Sometimes the answer is 'We need more schools, or more books.' But sometimes it's better sanitation, or better roads, or shoes for our children, so they can walk to school.
And these businesses are working with the communities so they can meet these needs together. Six hundred firms have committed to this program, to improve the education of children in six hundred schools all over Morocco.
And, I am happy to say, girls will benefit from this collaboration just as much as boys.
The private sector has a particular interest in improving girls' education: by improving access to school, they are training the workers of tomorrow, and widening the labor pool.
In a world that runs on brainpower, the relationship between a company's bottom line and the education of its employees-women as well as men-is pretty obvious.
The media also has a role to play in fostering awareness of girls' education. Radio, television, movies, newspapers-all of these mediums convey messages as to what is important in a society.
And so whether it is a character in a soap opera or a radio talk show host, we all need to say the same thing to our girls: both you and your education are important to us.
USAID has worked to promote girls' education in Guatemala for a decade. Today, the Guatemalan Association for Girls' Education-on its own-is launching a national media campaign to not only focus attention on the importance of girls' education, but to get government officials, business leaders, and the community at large involved.
There has been progress.
In developing countries, the primary school enrollment for girls has increased by 50 percent since 1960. In the poorest countries, it has more than doubled over the same period.
Still, 60 percent of the girls that should be in school are not.
It is clear that we need to do better, not just to improve the quantity of education, but also the quality.
It does no one any good to have girls-or boys, for that matter-sit in classes that are overcrowded, or where the education they receive has no relevance to their daily lives.
The goal of education, and girls' education in particular, is to allow women to take an even more active role in society-and to give them even more of a stake in their future.
B. F. Skinner once said that "Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten."
I think I know what he meant. Because as valuable as the ability to read, write, and do basic math is, the real gift of an education is that it broadens our minds, and gives us a sense of the world we live in, and all the opportunities in it.
When I was the U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania, I met many Americans who had come to climb the great Mt. Kilimanjaro, or to see the wildlife that prowled the Serengeti.
Most Tanzanians have never climbed Mt. "Kili"-they used to tell me that only tourists and adult male guides were able to scale Africa's highest peak.
They used to say, "This is not something we Tanzanian girls can do."
And then one day a Peace Corps volunteer, who was teaching in a girls' school at the foot of the mountain, challenged his students to climb Kilimanjaro.
Well, the girls laughed at him at first. But then he and some USAID staff were able to find some jackets and shoes for the girls, and they began teaching the girls about the mountain and its flora and fauna.
They became interested, and started to train for the climb.
On the appointed day these girls all set out wearing socks on their hands, carrying cabbages and bananas to eat along the way.
I know you won't be surprised to learn that they made it to the top-amidst many tears and a lot of laughter.
These girls overcame so much and did what only a few people in the world had done before them. The memory of that will stay with them for a lifetime, and will inspire them to excel in other arenas.
As educators and as development professionals, this should be our goal: to not only give girls the ability to read about new worlds, but the ability to look at their own world with new eyes.
Thank you.
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
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Last Updated on: July 12, 2001 |
