Educated Women Aid in Longer Life

A university educated woman has a positive influence on the lifespan of her and her partner according to a Swedish research study of 1.5 million Swedes. Authors of the research say educated women are more likely to understand various health messages for their families.

The study concluded that a woman’s education and social status were more important for a man’s lifespan than his own education. Since most health related illnesses and deaths in developed countries result from heart disease (as a result of food choices/lifestyle choices) and cancer (due to smoking/etc..), and since women are traditionally more responsible for food and the household, an educated woman would make healthier choices for the benefit of her family, resulting in longer lifespans for their significant others.

Quick Facts from Study:
A man is 25% more likely to die early if his partner is not university educated.
Women without a university degree are 53% more likely to die early.
Study done on 1.5M working Swedes
HYPERLINK “http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8291667.stm”

Although this study was conducted in a country with one of the highest standard of living indices, it is still relevant to the rest of the world. The study needs to be set relative to different populations, but the idea is constant: An educated woman will make decisions that positively affect her family, resulting in a longer lifespan for herself and her husband. Barakat’s courses provide health counseling as well as literacy training, ensuring that women can make healthy, informed choices about their bodies and what is best for their family’s health.

The argument against educating females, which is most prevalent in countries such as Afghanistan, claims “It is a waste of time. What will an educated woman do for me?” Evidence from this study suggests that educating women not only benefits the family, but it also benefits her husband as well. Specific health risks may differ in developing countries but healthier, smarter lifestyle choices will benefit the family tremendously.

In places like Afghanistan, where war has diminished the economy and infrastructure, health services and hospitals are not available for the majority of the population. This makes healthy lifestyles infinitely more important because it diminishes the likelihood of disease and the need for medical care. Taboos against discussing women’s issues and health concerns also make healthcare a difficult service to access. Barakat’s schools provide regular checkups for women and children. In addition, by emphasizing the importance of health in our schools, Barakat makes it more likely that women in the courses will make health a priority. With a higher economic standing as a result of being educated in our literacy programs, women will have increased access to information about best practices, nutrition, and preventing disease. Once they make health a priority for themselves, it is likely that they will make health a priority for their husband and their family.

Educating women undermines extremism!

Where do you go when you feel hurt, lost, or discriminated against?  You might think to turn to groups that offer you comfort and support.  Community organizations, family, and religious groups are common sources of comfort in times of need.  In places like India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan unfortunately these groups sometimes encourage the use of dangerous measures to improve their situation. Women often face discrimination in South Asia, particularly Pakistan and Afghanistan, simply due to their society’s tradition and culture against female involvement in the public sphere.  This, coupled with the fact that this region has been in a constant state of warfare, create a dangerous and traumatic living situation for women there and, as a result, make them vulnerable targets for extremist groups.   

The majority of women living in South Asia are uneducated and rely almost entirely on religious organizations and religious meetings for support.  Inevitably this becomes their main source of contact with what is going on in the outside world.  Islamic militants have recognized this as an opportunity to recruit more individuals to their cause.  According to a recent article in the Huffington Post, a number of Islamic organizations that specifically target women in these societies have sprouted up because illiterate women who are dependent on their male relatives are widely considered to be easy recruits.  In addition, generally speaking women are not expected to take part in violence and this makes them a valuable resource for groups who seek to carry out surprise violent attacks.  Extremist groups see women as a key to developing the next generation of militants, and extremist groups seek to use their influence to transmit ideas of radicalism and militancy. 

Barakat sees a different role for women.  As transmitters of cultural ideas and practices, they have the biggest impact on the next generation and are able to pass down the importance of education rather than norms of violence and radicalism to their sons and daughters.  Because of the influential role women possess in their societies, communities should empower them to promote peace and economic development to ensure a hopeful future.  This is how the development of South Asia will occur; when education is the message passed down so that future generations will progress with peace building, not violence.

Barakat enables women and children to further their own lives and the lives of future generations. Our schools in these volatile regions are vital now more than ever because they educate women and children, making them less of a target for extremist propaganda.  Educated, empowered women are able to make decisions based on what is best for their family rather than being forced into a life of militancy because they feel that they have no alternative.  Education and literacy provide a sense of hope and empower women to affect their own destinies. A recent article by the Grameen Bank concluded that improving a woman’s economic standing in society increases her sense of self worth and decreases the likelihood that she will fall prey to ideas of extremism and terrorism. According to a recent Newsweek article, empowered entrepreneurial mothers instill a sense of imagination in their children and provide them with a sense of possibility and hope.  This is what we at Barakat want to see as a result of our programs!  Through education, Barakat encourages women with the tools to advance their economic standing, provide for their families and open doors that women would not have access to otherwise. 

Innovative Techniques to Support Girl’s Education

“Women and girls aren’t the problem, they are the solution,” according to Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, authors of Half the Sky.  Aside from the human rights concerns associated with marginalizing women around the world, in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, where half the population is treated as third class citizens, economic growth is severely hindered and societies are caught in a seemingly never-ending cycle of poverty.

Despite the enormous amount of aid that developing countries receive each year, most of these countries still have devastatingly low economic growth rates, and very little improvement occurs in the level of poverty.   On the other hand, it has been found that certain aid—that which is given with a targeted purpose such as healthcare or education—has been extremely effective, particularly when it targets girls.  

One theory behind this phenomenon is the way in which women and men are socialized.  Women are taught to be caregivers and nurturers while men are driven to be the providers for their families.  This translates into a competitive mindset that encourages men to be focused on their own advancement and spend their income on individual needs.  Women, meanwhile, tend to be more community oriented, so when they have access to income they are many times more likely to reinvest it in the community by spending it on things such as health and education opportunities for their children.  Barakat, along with a variety of other nongovernmental organizations, has recognized this untapped resource and works to empower women as a means to enable communities to shape their own future through education.

Despite the growing research on the importance of female empowerment and the potential role that women can play in breaking the cycle of poverty, 70% of the 77 million children globally who were out of school in 2004 are girls.  According to the UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia, 11.5 million girls are out of school in this region of the world, compared with just five million boys.  The United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative, the World Bank, and the United States Council on Foreign Relations have pinpointed five specific ways to increase enrollment, decrease dropout rates and improve performance for girls in schools worldwide:

1.  Closer proximity of schools to girls’ homes

2.  Greater community involvement to boost success rates and enrollment

3. Availability of water and sanitation

4. Food rations to increase enrollment

5.  Incentives and scholarships

Barakat’s mission to strengthen the fundamental human rights to education in South and Central Asia focuses specifically on three of these methods—1, 2 and 5—in order to change the lives of women and girls through education.

1 and 2: The location of schools and lack of safe transport are obstacles that discourage parents from enrolling their daughters in school.  The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission found that 51.6% of parents cited security and accessibility as the main reason they were hesitant to send their girls to school. Cultural concerns such as preservation of a girl’s honor is a major issue for parents and serves as a deterrent to enrolling girls in schools.

In response, Barakat has introduced literacy courses that are held in the home of a family in the neighborhood.  The host family provides a safe and secure atmosphere for girls to focus on their studies without their parents worrying about their safety.  As an incentive, Barakat provides host families with rent and cleaning funds to ensure that the literacy courses continue to run.  The course curriculum mirrors that of government schools so that the students in our literacy courses receive the same education that students in formal schools receive.

In Pakistan, where Afghan refugees are even more conservative and wary of sending their daughters to school in a foreign country, Barakat offers evening schools specifically for girls that are staffed by female teachers.

5. There has been increasing research on the effectiveness of scholarship programs as incentives for girls to achieve greater educational gains.  According to the Scientific Evaluation for Global Action (SEGA), performance incentives had a far greater impact than book donations, class size, and other factors.  The study found that girls who were eligible for a scholarship showed significant gains in exam scores, attendance increased, and self-confidence was greatly improved.  

Barakat began a scholarship program in April 2008 called Taqaza-e-Dukhtaran.  The scholarship enables self-motivated teenage girls and young women with limited financial means to continue their education.  In addition to paying for their education, Barakat offers the families of these young women a stipend to make up for the potential loss of labor that would occur while the girl is not contributing the family’s income.  In this way, families become much more likely to support sending their daughters to school.  

Barakat makes education accessible for girls so that they can be financially empowered, ensure sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families, and contribute to ending the cycle of poverty in their communities.

Pakistani Women Role Models

Who are our role models? 

Sometimes our role models are the people we see and spend time with everyday and sometimes they are just figures on TV or the Web.  Whoever they may be, we all have respect for them, they have influenced our lives in some manner, and they are an image that we look to.

Who do you look to when your world is compromised by violence and poverty?  Often in difficult situations, people who are successful through illegitimate means frequently become role models.   Women in Pakistan fortunately have many role models to look to even in difficult settings.

Since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in late 2007, one might think that the number of women in high political positions have decreased due to extremism, fear, and conservatism, but there are still many women in high position that give hope to many and provide a positive influence on the young population of Pakistan.

In the Pakistani Senate, there are currently 18 women seated and the constitution requires that at least 17 women sit in the 100 seat Senate.  In the lower “house” of the Pakistani Congress, the National Assembly, there is a minimum of 60 seats reserved for women, and women currently fill 72 seats (out of 342, or 21 %).  To compare to the US, there are currently 17 women (out of 100) serving in the US Senate and 75 women (out of 435, 17%) in the US House of Representatives.

These congresswomen provide an image of women in power in the public sector.  Their mere presence in positions of power can have a positive effect, instilling an optimistic drive for young Pakistani women.

There are also women in power outside the public sector in high positions that provide a positive model for community building.  There are several women directors of NGOs working to help improve their country.  Women such as Jehan Ara (President Of Pakistan Software House Association), Sabeen Mahmud ( Director Peace Niche NGO), Rabia Gharib ( CEO of CIO magazine), Asma Jehnagir (Human Right Activist) and many more. These women not only represent the independent, enlightened and modern woman of Pakistan, despite the hurdles, but also act as role models to many young women looking to make a better Pakistan.

      

Jehan Ara             Sabeen Mahmud          Rabia Gharib              Asma Jehnagir

The Upcoming Afghan Election

With the second presidential Afghan election about to take place on August 20, the Barakat community in Afghanistan is approaching a threshold: Will our students, the future of Afghanistan,  see democracy in action with a fair and undisputed election and a smooth transition?

The success of democracy in Afghanistan is a promise to Barakat’s students of what will be.  With an election in which polls are open to everyone and all votes are counted, the youth of Afghanistan will see the progress of their country through democracy.

There are dark clouds that have formed around the perception of Afghanistan, but this election is about hope and the future, a ray of light through the negative aura surrounding a magnificent people.

Barakat is following this election closely to see what kind of conditions the election of a new administration creates for its schools and education programs.  Will a second term for Karzai mean a change in education policy that improves current school systems?  Or will a new president bring a completely new education policy?   For our schools in Pakistan for Afghan refugees, stability from a successful election could mean a stem in the flow of refugees.

Also important to follow will be voting participation by women.  Will they be intimidated into staying away from the polls?  Will their voting cards be accepted?  Hopefully the rights of women that were stagnated by the Taliban until 2001 will be flexed to the fullest extent on 20 August.  We will learn what the state of democracy has become in Afghanistan in this election.  We will also learn how much power the Taliban maintains there.

Read the New York Times article profiling the setting of the election:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/world/asia/04election.html?_r=1&ref=asia

and a Huffington Post Article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/olivia-sterns/green-shoots-of-democracy_b_251983.html

Morning Assembly

I’ve been told by several people now that I should blog more often, so I’m going to try to do at least one a day for the my last week here. I can’t promise the same quality as the previous ones, but I’ll do my best.

Yesterday I went back to the Qazipur school to do some classroom observations. The school day starts at 8:00, and I wanted to be early so that I could video tape kids coming to school and their morning assembly, so I left my home-stay at 7:30.

 

A child I passed on the way to school

 

It’s just a 10 minute walk to the school from where I am staying, but I had two wishes for these 10 minutes. The first was that it wouldn’t be too hot and that my shirt wouldn’t be totally sweat-soaked by the time I got there, which I guess was half granted. I was dripping sweat when I arrived and my shirt was just half-soaked. My second wish was that not too many people would be out yet. I’ve walked this route four times now, and each time I’ve had more people stare at me more intensely than ever in my life. And, having been a Peace Corps Volunteer, I’ve had a lot of people stare at me for a long time. Maybe I’m just not used to it anymore, but it kind of made me uncomfortable and sometimes you just want to feel like you fit in a little bit.

 

A house on the way to school

Another house on the way to school

 

This second wish was granted. People wake up somewhat early here, but they seem to lounge around their home for a while, so I mostly saw children on their way to school. I tried to take some discreet pictures from my waist during the walk, but when people are staring at you, it’s hard to be discreet.

When I arrived I heard a ball of voices coming from the classrooms. I was worried I had been too late, but there were still children coming. Some by themselves. Some escorted by parents and siblings. They were all super cute in their little uniforms. Several of them said, “Good morning, sir,” as they passed me. Again, cute.

At 8:00 on the dot, it was time for the morning assembly. It was amazing to see how efficiently all the kids made it out into the courtyard, and they seemed to do it on auto-pilot. I don’t know how these teachers get the kids to be so perfect all the time, but they do seem pretty consistently perfect. Later, one of the teachers left the LKG kids (5 year olds) by themselves for five minutes and only a couple even left their desks! The assembly seems to consist of a prayer and a blessing, and that’s about it.

 

Morning assembly being formed

Prayer at morning assembly

 

So before I knew it, the kids filed their way back to their classrooms. Both when they came out of and returned to their classrooms, they put their hands on each others’ shoulders. As they returned, I noted how their movement resembled a handful of giant millipedes escaping to seek shelter in all different directions. When I have talked with the teachers about the students, they often talk about the fact that most of the children’s parents are uneducated and don’t know how to support the children in school. You wouldn’t guess it, watching their behavior. It seems like they know exactly how to behave for school – like it’s what they were born to do.

 

Upper Kindergarten classwork

An Idol for Afghan Women

Among the challenges Barakat Afghanistan faces is the search for female role models for our students.  In a country where women are often prohibited from traveling much outside their own homes and discouraged from pursuing an education, we look for women who reinforce both local cultural beliefs and empowerment for women. Recently, we found one such woman, whose commitment to women’s health in her country is inspiring a new generation.  Pashtoon Azfar has become a champion for her native country Afghanistan to improve the dilapidated health care system and decrease the death rate for women during pregnancy in and child-birth, which, at 1,600 maternal deaths out of every at 1,600/100,000 births, is the 2nd second highest in the world.

 

During Pashtoon’s lifetime, the culture of war had destroyed the health care and mid–wife system in Afghanistan.  Professionals had fled the country, and continuing education halted.

 

Now she directs Afghanistan’s Institute of Health Sciences and is working with foreign government aid and NGOs help to improve the staggering statistics.  Health care could provide a big window for the next generation of educated women in Afghanistan to bring the status of Afghan health care back to where it was in the past.  Azfar is the role model for future Afghani women leaders, and the women coming out of Barakat schools don’t have to look far to find a hero.

 

To be able to look beyond the often bleak and war-ridden situation and find the positives of present-day Afghanistan is difficult but is easy as looking to Pashtoon Azfar.

 

To read more about Azfar, check out the New York Times article profiling her work:

 

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The Girl Effect

Six million adolescent girls live in poverty.

That’s two times the U.S. population. At 12, a girl is less likely to be in school than a boy worldwide. At 15, it’s likely she can’t read and is on the road to an early marriage. She has a disproportionately higher risk for HIV infection.

Studies show again and again that by providing girls with education, they become less likely to marry early, will have fewer children, lead healthier lives and ensure that their children will be educated. They may go on to run businesses through microfinance programs and improve the larger economy. They will gain confidence and strength, helping to end stigmas.

The Girl Effect is working to help bring about that kind of change. Rooted in the work of the Nike Foundation and assisted by several other organizations including the UN Foundation and the International Center for Research on Women, The Girl Effect is a growing $55 million portfolio of girl-specific investments. Their Web site has a great video and tons of fact sheets loaded with information about girls in the developing world.

Like The Girl Effect, Barakat works to help adolescent girls by keeping them in schools and providing them with the hope and confidence to improve their world.