Is There a Gender Gap in Education?
13November 20, 2013 by Mrs. Spiegelman
By Matthew Williams at KQED.org
Click here to see the original article which features the PBS NewsHour video Malala says assassination threats can’t weaken her cause.
Introduction
In many places around the world, boys and girls receive different and unequal opportunities to pursue an education. The inequality of opportunity typically has major consequences for these societies, and the individual women and men who live in them.
Research shows that educating girls has a ripple effect on their families and societies. The World Bank reports that for every extra year of education, girls’ wages can increase 20 percent. Education also helps to lower rates of child marriage and reduce birth rates, both of which have lasting positive impacts on girls’ lives.
Last year, 14-year-old Pakistani student Malala Yousafzai was targeted and shot by radical Taliban militants while on her school bus. Malala was a youth blogger for the BBC advocating girls education in her native Pakistan, and continued to go to school despite a Taliban ban outlawing women’s education.
Malala made a full recovery, and has since used her newfound fame to highlight the discrimination that girls often face when seeking an education in the developing world, and why girls’ education is so essential to the health of a society.
People of color and women have faced similar discrimination getting an education in the United States. A major cornerstone of the civil rights movement was desegregating schools in order to make sure white and black students were receiving the same opportunities for success.
Resource
BBC News – Malala Yousafzai speech edit from Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church on Vimeo.
Respond
In the United States today, all children have the right to a public education, but inequities in schooling still exist. Why is it important for boys and girls to receive equal opportunities in education? What societal problems can be caused by an inequality in educational opportunities? Do you think there is inequality in educational opportunities in America? If so, what do they look like?
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It is important for both genders to receive equal education because more educated students, means the world has a better chance of living longer. Many societal problems can occur because of gender inequalities, such as stereotypes, and bullying, and abuse. So far, I think there really isn’t an issue wtih gender inequalities in America, aside from people with stereotypical minds.
All men and woman were created equal. It should be fair for everyone to have educational equities. America has this opportunity but not many use it.
from Cruz
think that kids should get the same education because we will grow in unisecn in wealth and we will grow as community the ineqwalities that are made by the wide gaps in our school system are not enough teachers to teach iss so naturally they will start to learn the wrong thing like some kids think it is a right of passage is to go to prison another one is school over crowdment
From Brian
It is important to have an education because the boys and girls are the future. Without Education we can not build things, invent things, and innovate things. The inequality of education can cause people to protest and to become more rebellious. No there is no inequality in American Education and I hope there will never be any.
It’s important for boys and girls to recieve equal opportunities in education because kids should have education so, they can become succesful in their life. Some societal problems that can be caused in educational opportunities are there could be fights, killings, and protests. I think that there is inequality in educational opportunities in America because most private schools have iPads but, kids in public schools don’t because their school can’t afford them, can’t get them because there are to many kids, or because they just can’t get them.
Why is it important for boys and girls to receive equal opportunities in education? It is important for boys and girls to receive equal opportunities in education because everyone deserves rights to go to school, to know what’s happening in our world, and to know about places, traditions, and customs of where they came from.
What societal problems can be caused by an inequality in educational opportunities? People can protest for equal rights and that would create conflict….etc.
Do you think there is inequality in educational opportunities in America? Yes.
If so, what do they look like? Some people in public schools don’t have the same educational tools as people in private schools so that isn’t fair.
It’s important because to be successful, you have to have a good education. I think America doesn’t have any problems. We are all about equal opportunities . Society would get mad at the non equal opportunities, and there would be mayhem.
Why is it important for boys and girls to receive equal opportunities in education?
It’s important because they need to learn and be smart and girls and boys should have an education because without what would we do.
What societal problems can be caused by an inequality in educational opportunities? That girls shouldn’t go to school , but the truth is everyone should go to school.
Do you think there is inequality in educational opportunities in America? Kinda yes because I believe everybody should get the same education, like we have electronics some don’t. I believe they should because everyone should be treated the same and given the same opportunities.
It is very important for boys and girls to have equal education because girls are human beings just as boys are and they have the right to learn all the this boys learn. Also, its important to have the same education because boys and girls have great ideas and we need to shout out all these ideas. If only boys had education and not girls then society would become a disaster because if the girls wouldn’t have education the girls wouldn’t have opportunity to learn, write, and much more. No, we don’t have the same education in America.
I think it is very important for boys and girls to have an equal opportunity in education. There are still many countries that are very sexist and unfair. An example of a country is Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia they have laws against women. One of the laws is that females are not allowed to drive because they feel that it is bad for their reproductive system. I feel that this is a very uneducated statement and rule. Another rule is that females are not allowed to attend school or recive an education! However in America I don’t think there is an inequality in the schooling system. We can participate in little things that make a big difference. Something we could do is dedicate a blog post to Malala and giving our opinion on the topic. Remember little things make big differences!
It is important for girls and boys to get an education because in order be successful you have to get an education. To be a doctor, lawyer, scientist, etc. it will cause riots and drama because it is unfair to many who don’t have an education. Yes because some people bully and some teachers favorite people.
Why is it important for boys and girls to receive equal opportunities in education? What societal problems can be caused by an inequality in educational opportunities? Do you think there is inequality in educational opportunities in America? If so, what do they look like?
It is important because they need to be educated and need to have intelligence to survive in this world. The societal problems that can be caused by educational opportunities is we can have less and less education no one will know how to do certain things and how to keep on moving forward for a better world. Yes, because I’m in a private school now. I first came from a public school and private schools we have better education, we have better hands on expirence and better teachers. I believe it is unfair for kids in public schools.
It is important because people are always saying that boy are better at a lot of things than girls. If boys are aloud to learn and girls aren’t welcomed to learn, of course there will be a gap between boys and girls. If girls had the same opportunities a boys to they would be able to do everything that boys can do. For instance I here my parents fighiting about who’s the better driver. They are both equally good. People think that just because girls are smaller than boys they can still be better at things.
It’s not right to judge by gender. The only difference between boy and girls are that they’re body’s are built differently but that still doesn’t stop them from being able to do anything they want to. I think gender stereotypes are wrong and people should stop.
Even though we say that in the United States there is equality in educational opportunities, poor neighborhoods have disadvantages. It is very important for boys and girls to receive equal opportunities in education because boys and girls are both active members of our society. If there are inequalities in educational opportunities between boys and girls it would effect societal developments because any person with disadvantages would not poses the skills to succeed and would affect the countries’ economy.