International Youth Education Association

Educate to Educate
Statement of Need

The act of outlawing girls education in the middle east is a direct violation of
Article 26 in the UNs Declaration of Human Rights. Article 26 clearly states that
everyone has the right to education and that denying people proper education based on
sex and/or any other identification is both unethical and inhumane.
The Middle East has to make educational opportunities for women a priority. But
there are things stopping that including poverty, lack of opportunities, conflicted nations
which is controlled by the Taliban and gender disparity in the enrollment in school. Most
of the time there were a lack of basic programs for students like not having a teacher at
the next grade level or the essential resources, so these students end up dropping out
and never finishing their education. National poverty also holds women back; many
families cannot afford to send their girls to school or need them at home to farm.
Women in the Middle East are deprived of their human rights and their dignity
(Womens), said the Borgen Project.
The lack of education currently being presented to women in the Middle East is
cruel for those women. That is because, without education, women will not be able to
find any jobs and will most likely have to stay at home while her husband works his job.
A women cannot pull herself out of poverty without having received the resources and
education to make sufficient income. In addition, the gap of women in work is a barrier
to economic prosperity for entire countries. This is shown through a study that states,
Only 45 percent of women in Iraq are literate (Davies). How are women supposed to
be impactful in society if they can't even get access to a proper education? Also,
societies who have common conservative values believe that women should be working
at home and that halts women in MENA from following their dreams and passions.
An overarching patriarchal culture is present across the globe in universities and
educational centers, yet it is the most prominent and restricting in North Africa and the
Middle Eastern regions (MENA). As of 2000, the percentage of illiterate Yemen girls
over fifteen years old is 75%, contrasting the male percentage of 33% (Roudi). That is a
difference of 42%; this highlights the extent of the drastic gender gap in MENA
education. Womens exclusion in education extends beyond enrollment; girls in school
are continuing to receive inferior and limited knowledge that could benefit them in the
current job market. Lack of facilities and properly qualified educators keeps girls from
attending school at a young age. More restricting than lack of government funding is
rural poverty. Poverty is faced by a large percentage of the population in MENA and
many families cannot afford to send their girls to school. Conservative values also back
the precedented ideas of men going to universities while women stay home and this
culture infests families even beyond the MENA region like a parasite thriving off
patriarchy.
Malala Yousafzai, the author of I am Malala, is most famous for her stance in girls
education. She wants women to be successful and to be free to go to school or to go to
work. Nowhere is it written the Quran that a women should be dependent on a man
(Yousafzai 219). She believes that everyone has the right to education no matter who
they are or what they do. Education is very important to Malala as she has been fighting
for it since she was 12. She views education as our basic right. Not just in the West;
Islam too has given us this right. Islam says every girl and every boy should go to
school. In the Quran it is written, God wants us to have knowledge (Yousafzai 311).
Malala hasnt changed how she interprets the Quran even with extremist religious
groups, like the Taliban, using the Quran and violence to prohibit girls from going to
school. Malala was a big advocate for girls education before she got shot by the Taliban,
but now she is one of the leading supporters for education. She continues her fight to
educate the world with her organization, The Malala Fund.

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