Girls Not Getting Equal Education Globally

Article: A recent report issued by UNESCO (the UN) has found that the Arab world is among the most unequal places when it comes to gender and education. For instance, it found that 100 million women were unable to read a single sentence. In the Arab world, only 60% of girls go to school, mainly for cultural reasons. If a family is poor and can only afford to send some of the kids, they will likely send the boys only because the boys are expected to work and make money for the family. In other areas, like Syria, where there is civil war, parents are less likely to let girls go to school and maybe get hurt by strange men running around the neighborhood (to parents: sexual abuse). Because fewer girls go to school, fewer women become teachers, when the Arab world is desperate for more female teachers. Iran and Turkey are ahead of most of the other Middle Eastern countries in this regard. To help things progress, some countries are giving stipends to families for sending their girls to school or providing scholarships or recruiting teachers to rural areas.