Women's Education Helps Avert Child Marriage
Around 2.9 million girls are married by the age of 15 in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia, equivalent to one in eight girls in each region, according to estimates in the 2013-14 EFA Global Monitoring Report . If present trends continue, 142 million girls will be married before their 18th birthday over the next decade. That’s an average of 14.2 million girls each year. These shocking statistics mean millions of girls are robbed of their childhood and denied an education. Studies show that education empowers women to overcome discrimination. Girls and women who are educated have greater awareness about their rights and have confidence to make decisions about their lives. Studies show that girls with higher levels of schooling are less likely to marry as children. In Mozambique, some 60 percent of girls with no education are married by 18, compared to 10 percent of girls with secondary schooling and less than one percent of girls with higher education. Educating adolescent...