Female education

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Female education is a catch-all term for a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women.^[1][2] It is frequently called girls' education or women's education. It includes areas of gender equality and access to education. The education of women and girls is important for the alleviation of poverty.^[3] Broader related topics include single-sex education and religious education for women, in which education is divided along gender lines.

Inequalities in education for girls and women are complex:^[4] women and girls face explicit barriers to entry to school, for example, violence against women or prohibitions of girls from going to school, while other problems are more systematic and less explicit, for example, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education disparities are deep rooted, even in Europe and North America.^[5] In some Western countries, women have surpassed men at many levels of education. For example, in the United States in 2005/2006, women earned 62% of associate degrees, 58% of bachelor's degrees, 60% of master's degrees, and 50% of doctorates.^[6]

Improving girls' educational levels has been demonstrated to have clear impacts on the health and economic future of young women, which in turn improves the prospects of their entire community.^[7] The infant mortality rate of babies whose mothers have received primary education is half that of children whose mothers are illiterate.^[8] In the poorest countries of the world, 50% of girls do not attend secondary school.^{[9][10][11][12][13]} Yet, research shows that every extra year of school for girls increases their lifetime income by 15%. Improving female education, and thus the earning potential of women, improves the standard of living for their own children, as women invest more of their income in their families than men do.^[14] Yet, many barriers to education for girls remain. In some African countries, such as Burkina Faso, girls are unlikely to attend school for such basic reasons as a lack of private latrine facilities for girls.^[15]

Education increases a woman's (and her partner's and the family's) level of health and health awareness.^[16][17][18] Furthering women's levels of education and advanced training also tends to delay the initiation of sexual activity, first marriage, and first childbirth.^[19][20] Moreover, more education increases the likelihood of remaining single, having no children, or having no formal marriage while increasing levels of long-term partnerships.^[21][22] Women's education is important for women's health as well, increasing contraceptive use while lowering sexually transmitted infections, and increasing the level of resources available to women who divorce or are in a situation of domestic violence.^[23] Education also improves women's communication with partners and employers and their rates of civic participation.^[24][25]

Because of the wide-reaching effects of female education on society, alleviating inequalities in education for women is highlighted in Sustainable Development Goal 4 "Quality Education for All", and deeply connected to Sustainable Development Goal 5 "Gender Equality". Education of girls (and empowerment of women in general) in developing countries leads to faster development and a faster decrease of population growth, thus playing a significant role in addressing environmental issues such as climate change mitigation.^[13][26] Project Drawdown estimates that educating girls is the sixth most efficient action against climate change (ahead of solar farms and nuclear power).^[27]