Beijing Platform for Action, Chapter IV. B. Education and Training of Women - Paragraph 69

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69. Education is a human right and an essential tool for achieving the goals of equality, development and peace. Non-discriminatory education benefits both girls and boys and thus ultimately contributes to more equal relationships between women and men. Equality of access to and attainment of educational qualifications is necessary if more women are to become agents of change. Literacy of women is an important key to improving health, nutrition and education in the family and to empowering women to participate in decision-making in society. Investing in formal and non-formal education and training for girls and women, with its exceptionally high social and economic return, has proved to be one of the best means of achieving sustainable development and economic growth that is both sustained and sustainable.

Beijing Declaration (1995)

It is interesting to note the ways in which education can be not only a fundamental human right but also an access point to the provisions of other human rights.

For example, with the provision of elementary education as mandatory, and then the access for secondary and postsecondary schooling, the individuals who pursue their postsecondary educations can begin to develop the life paths and professional lives with greater prestige and income. It becomes both a social and an economic boon for the individual.

That form of empowerment can lead to different series of life outcomes for the girl or woman, or for girls and women generally. Women, as has been noted in recent reportage, are key to the increase in “equality, development and peace.” This includes the recognition, in full and without delay, of the humanity of women and girls.

The provision of education in a “non-discriminatory” way is important for the benefit of both boys and girls because the implication or implied culture, and probably result, is equality between the sexes or amongst the genders as they receive the same education and study alongside one another.

Furthermore, this becomes part of the equal attainment, globally speaking, of credentials, certifications, qualifications, and acquisition of skills of women and men; in part, there may be ongoing disparities in different domains but, as a matter of principles, throughout the international contexts there should be an increase in the number of doors open for women and girls in terms of educational access and opportunities, especially as they, as we all, are entering into the Knowledge Economy or the Fourth Industrial Revolution with artificial intelligence and robotics and the need for more education.

A sophisticated, empirically created, and the technologically advanced world needs sophisticated, scientifically literate, and tech-savvy citizens. There was the concept of the feminization of poverty explored in some of the prior articles. But there is also the importance in the advancement and empowerment of women, which, in the terminology of the 69th paragraph, implies the creation of “agents of change” or women as such.

But given the power of education for the furtherance of knowledge about the world, this can imply the greater opportunities in work, with the possibility of more income earned by the women. This is good in at least three ways. One, women become more equal to men, more autonomous. Two, more the population is educated in the advanced sectors of the economy increasing the wealth of the average household, the community, and so increasing the GDP of the society. Third, education is preparation for this ongoing and upcoming revolution in the fundamental ways in which societies are structured and in the processes underlying national and international, even daily, life.

With education, even basic “literacy of women,” these can help, on average, improve “health, nutrition and education in the family”; thus, education can be among the best gateways to a better life for girls, women, and their families. It leads to further ability to make independent decisions in society, as men tend to have done, in general, or at least more than women in most societies.

The last portion deals with the investment in both the formal and non-formal sections of society that education and train women and girls. This creates a lot of social caital; it also incubates much economic capital. That is, human capital, investment in women, for instance, yields economic and social benefits for the nation-state. Same with investments in citizens, generally, but, for a variety of reasons, pays more per head if equal investment per head if a woman in contrast to a man.

Fo this desired, and oft-mentioned “sustainable development and economic growth” model, these investments can be key in the creation of the high-technology, high-culture future; if less investment than prior, or no improvement in investment, then, as Howard Zinn says, the standing still by a moving train is to, in essence, fall behind in either case.

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One can find similar statements in other documents, conventions, declarations and so on, with the subsequent statements of equality or women’s rights: