Train a girl child and you train a nation

I have decided to title my piece this week after the popular adage ‘Train a girl child and you train a nation.’ I believe this adage is really true. In one of my previous pieces, I talked about rape. After the article was published, I realised I didn’t talked about an important issue, the girl-child neglect. Often, when girls are raped, government rarely takes interest because they are girls. A girl-child is believed not to be useful or valuable.

Educating girls in Africa has faced a hard time with a history of conservative patriarchal customs that have caused tribal cultures too many times marginalising girl-child education, placing it at the bottom of the list.

When it comes to educating a girl-child, people have different views. Some traditions believe it is better for a girl to stay at home and get married. The basic education they get is deeply rooted in traditional teachings that often lead to early marriages. This adds to the discomfiting 35 percent illiteracy among women. However, a number of educated women have challenged the traditions that are against the education of a girl-child.

This happens mostly in African countries, where they look down on women. It still surprises me that in some parts of Africa, women are treated as slaves, nonentity. And in some or most parts, girls do not deserve education but they are meant to just stay at home and cook, then get married at a very young age, after all, they are not going to carry on the family name. Their believe is that girls are expected to settled for less, they do not deserve to speak when the men are talking.

Educating girls brings enlightenment and drives away superstition and wrong beliefs, and generally improves family life. A stable family contributes to peace in a society and women have a central role in peace and stability; and educating them makes a vast difference.

Finance and wrong ideas of girls being married off and will not be useful to the family have been a major factor in many homes, which in my own view, our parent should try and find a way of managing this.

Education for girls and women has many positive effects. Girls learn and become more involved in society and leadership as they become women. They also gain more self esteem from greater knowledge and greater access to knowledge.

If girls or women earn income, they typically re-invest 90 percent back into the family, in health issues and improvement in the family living condition; educated girls know what is good for her family and society. Training of her children from infant to adulthood, we should note that children look up more to their mothers; women have the primary influence on their children. An uneducated woman will bring up an uneducated child, and the children will grow up to be part of the society.

We have seen cases where women actually look down on themselves.

However, if you take a look at women like Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, the president of Liberia, the president of Brazil Dihra Rousseeff, she is called the iron lady; Hilary Clinton who was United State of America’s secretary of state; the richest black woman in the world now who is ahead of American Oprah Winfrey, Folorunsho Alakija, and many others.

These women have proven that women are powerful. In our economy today, we see a lot of women challenging men in politics, the likes of Abike Dabiri. If only women are given the opportunity to express themselves, the world will be a better place.

IKEOLUWAPO OLUBANJO