One woman in three has faced gender-based violence. It’s a global epidemic, but you can help stop it.
Let others know that when women and girls are allowed to participate fully and equally in society, everyone benefits.
Investing in girls’ education is “the highest-return investment”
There’s a lot of evidence for this:
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Economist Lawrence Summers says that “investment in girls’ education may well be the highest-return investment available in the developing world.”
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Entrepreneur Daniel Epstein says that in emerging markets, educated girls reinvest 90 percent of their incomes in the futures of their families, compared with 35 percent for educated boys.
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An education not only allows a girl the opportunity to have a greater economic impact, but also can improve her family’s health due to fewer maternal and infant deaths, lower rates of HIV and AIDS and better child nutrition. When girls are educated, communities are better equipped to cope with adversity, withstand crises, and make investments in the future.
Empowered rural women can feed the world
Many women in developing countries work in agriculture, but they have less access than men to land, training, and new technologies and thus are usually less productive. In a 2015 report, the U.N. said closing the gender gap in agricultural productivity could potentially lift as many as 238,000 people out of poverty in Malawi, 80,000 people in Tanzania, and 119,000 people in Uganda.
You can help spread awareness of how empowering women and girls ultimately helps everyone. Learn more by taking the YALI Network Course on Understanding the Rights of Women and Girls.
Take your pledge today to end gender-based violence (GBV) in your communities at yali.lab.dev.getusinfo.com/4her.