There are well over 20 prominent nations, which continue to discriminate against females by preventing them from learning. In these countries, gender inequality in education not only stifles the development of women, but the progress of their country as a whole. Here are a look at a few.
1. Cambodia
When the brutal Khmer Rouge took power in the 1970s, killing an estimated 1.7 million people, almost the entire educated class in Cambodia was eradicated. Rouge preferred to rule over illiterate people, and being able to read or right were grounds for persecution. The aftermath of Rouge's reign is still prevalent today, with most girls' education ending at the onset, or before puberty, with only 15 percent of women seeking higher education. For most women, their fate instead is to suffer from domestic violence and work in the rice fields or as prostitutes as early as age 13.
2. Pakistan
You probably remember when the Taliban shot 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai in the head for pursuing her right to education. This kind of violence against women who try to attend school is common in Pakistan, and over half of Pakistani girls are not educated, making the education rate for Pakistani women among the lowest in the world. Pakistan also has the world’s second lowest rate of female employment.
3. Nepal
In Nepal, a male's education trumps in importance to that of a female's, and therefore, boys are sent to school while many Nepalese young women are sold into bonded servitude or raised to learn to run a household. Only 7 percent of students in Nepal make it to the tenth grade, and the ratio of boys to girls attending school is 2:1.
4. Afganistan
Afghanistan is notoriously one of the hardest places in the world to be a woman. One of the most startling statistics is that 9 out of 10 women are illiterate. About 40 percent of Afghan girls attend elementary school, with only 1 in 20 girls continuing beyond the sixth grade. There are many reasons for girls to not attend or continue their schooling, as girls who do face death threats or are attacked, commonly having acid thrown in their faces. Girls are also forbidden to attend school among boys, making it much more difficult to find an accessible place of education. In addition, thousands of girls are forced into child marriages at a considerably young age, which means they miss out on the chance of receiving an education and living a life of their own.
5. Chad
Only 10 percent of girls in Chad have completed Elementary school. Orphans, child laborers and impoverished kids are unable to go to school. In addition, Chad has one of the highest rates of child marriages in the world, and education is far from a priority for females with their husbands controlling every facet of their lives.
6. Guatamala
Less than half of Guatemalan girls never have the opportunity to enroll in elementary school, and 1 out of 8 will complete the sixth grade. The country is extremely impoverished and thus generally cannot afford school, however if a family could, they would generally send the boy since girls are encouraged to take on a domestic role in society. It is also more difficult for girls in rural areas to attend school because they may lack the safety or endurance to walk to and from a distant school every day.
7. Haiti
38% of the people of Haiti cannot read or write. The estimated annual cost to send a child to school, including uniform, books, materials and transportation, is equivalent to 131 US dollars, which is an extraordinarily expensive for the extremely impoverished Haitian people. Most cannot afford to send their kids to school, let alone have one less set of hands working to provide for the family.
8. Turkey
In Turkey, about 500,000 girls are out of school. The overall sensibility is that females do not need to be education, and some people even believe that education will spoil their daughters for marriag
9. Morocco
In Morocco, there is strong social pressure for girls not to attend school. Girls generally marry before the age of 14 and those who attend school face hostility. At 40% in 2007, Morocco has a very high overall adult illiteracy rate. In rural areas, it is estimated that some 90% of women are illiterate. Less than half of girls in Morocco's countryside attend school and 80% drop out between grades 1-6.
10. Ethiopia
84% of women in Ethiopia are illiterate. Education is actually open to girls in Ethiopia, but there is a negative social attitude toward educating women, and many textbook lessons are discriminatory or gender insensitive. Girls in Ethiopia only attend school for 2.2 years on average, leaving school mostly due to pregnancy, early marriage, or sexual harassment.
