Priority Issue

The improvement of (access to and utilization of)  education for girls and women is linked to an  improvement in the status of women.

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Rationale

Provision of educational opportunities for girls depends heavily on the cultural attitudes of the parents and community, and on the ability of parents and community to pay for girls to attend school in developing nations. Often priority is given to male children versus female children. However in the US the culture is highly competitive and impersonal. A girl’s well being and safety depends on her ability to think for herself and, if necessary to earn a good living for herself and her children. A good education is an asset which will benefit the girl, as well as her family for a lifetime. Therefore to address advocacy of education for girls and women is essential in both the developed and in the under developed nations of the world.

Objectives

1. To encourage access to educational opportunities for immigrant girl children in the U.S.
2. To oppose state or federal legislation to deny children of illegal immigrants access to public education.
3. To promote the teaching of English to recent immigrants, especially women and children.
4. To encourage young women to pursue educational programs and careers in the international arena (in government, business, and nonprofit spheres).
5. To promote the teaching of foreign languages in our schools.
6. Through cooperation with the Virginia Gildersleeve International Fund to identify educational projects in developing nations that might be publicized among IFUW members and encourage visitations on site.
7. To identify a concrete project which provides opportunities for girls/women who have limited access to education.

Strategies

For the Individual

1. Adopt a woman or girls and pay her tuition and school expenses for a year (e.g., UNDP scholarship for a Somali woman to attend a year at a university in Somaliland or Puntland).
2. Work with leaders of immigrant communities in the US to persuade them of the need to give their girl children the same educational opportunities as their sons.
3. Promote the teaching of English to immigrant women and girls.
4. Promote the teaching of foreign languages in local schools in the U.S.
5. Members attending the Mexico City Triennial Conference of IFUW are asked to volunteer, in advance of attending the conference, and to interview or talk informally with members attending the conference from other delegations. The focus of the interview will be upon efforts of the affiliate in addressing the issue of education for girls and women in their country. Additional areas of interest or concern might also be addressed.
   • In advance, a WG member is designated to coordinate this effort and assure that duplications do not occur. and that as many NFA’s as possible are interviewed in Mexico City.
   • Summary reports of the interview conversation are prepared by the interviewer and sent to the coordinator.
   • Subsequently these collated reports will be posted on the WG website.

For Community Action

1. With others in your community or state, purchase several UNICEF Schools-in-a-Box.
   Each box contains materials to set up a school in a refugee camp disaster zone or area of military conflict where schools have been disrupted or destroyed.
2. Stock a library in a school that does not have one.
3. With others in your community encourage young women to pursue careers in the international arena.

For Action at the National Level

1. Partner with the Virginia Gildersleeve International Fund to locate site visitors for educational project grants from among IFUW members in the grant recipient countries.
2. Publicize and support international educational efforts through the U.N. and other international agencies and organizations.

Anticipated Outcomes and Time Line

1. Publication of recommended action plans to WG membership by September, 2010. Report of individual and group efforts in taking action by January, 2011, with a “personal goal” identified by each WG member for concerted action in the year 2011.
2. Completion of one or more action plans by December, 2011, and publication of results on the WG-USA website.

Helpful Resources

BOOKS

• Kristoff and WuDunn. Half the Sky. Knopf. 2009
• Mortenson, Greg and Relin, David. Three Cups of Tea. Penguin. 2006
• Mortenson, Greg and Relin, David. Stones for Schools. Penguin. 2009

ON THE WEB

• Innovation for Womens Empowerment [PDF]
• UNDP Human Development Report “Overcoming Barriers” [PDF]
• Full text of the Convention
• WG-USA: Articles about Education for Women and Girls

E-MAIL CONTACTS

• connections@ifuw.org
• youngmembers@ifuw.org