Discrimination is an issue with regard to the education of women. The traditional roles of women staying at home and the view of men being the sole providers for a family still exist. In Britain, during the wars, most women had to step into the shoes of men who went off to fight in the war and did their jobs exceptionally well but on the return of the men; it was found unacceptable that women could be capable of the same jobs as men. Employers often favour males when looking to fill a post and it has been shown that women often receive smaller wages for the same work. Legal rights for women to an education vary around the world.
Economically, a less developed country may simply not have the facilities available or enough qualified teachers to educate women. Some practising religions do not believe women should have the same role as men. Beliefs that prevent women from following similar routes to men in some religions are the use of contraceptives as women often become tied down at an early age with children to look after, restricting their own future.
Explain the changes that can occur in a country’s development due to the education of women.
Currently, the majority of educated women live in MEDC’s where education is compulsory up to a certain age and available for those who want to be educated further although at a price if higher education is pursued. In LEDC’s, education is rarely available to all women. Evidence shows that most jobs could be done by women if given sufficient training, yet some women are not given the chance. In what follows I will discuss the changes that the education of women could make to a country’s development.
The education of women enables them to seek jobs which suit their ability and interest. Finding a job with a good annual salary can give a woman confidence in her ability and new found independence, which is valued so much perhaps because women have had to fight for the same rights as men. In Britain, many women are choosing to buy their own property, simply because they can as the pay gap between men and women is gradually closing. In a survey, it was found that more women (22% more) than men value their independence. Could this possibly be a sign of a role reversal?
As the number of graduates from university consists of almost equal numbers of males and females, there is now healthy competition between the male and female sex for the same jobs. Identical qualifications of the same standard mean that an employer’s decision should be based entirely on the personality and attitude of the candidate (aided by the Equal Opportunities Act). As a result, more women have been able to pursue promotions and roles of authority.
More highly qualified graduates result in more people working in science and technological improvements, helping to develop medicines, treatments and enabling a country to make advances in prolonging life even further.
The effect on a country’s development overall with more educated women out working is that the economy is a wealthier one. There are more people working and so more people have money to buy houses, cars and afford holidays. However, this poses problems as well. Those who are not educated and struggle to pay a mortgage and buy food each week cannot cope as well in society. This leads to people taking out loans and borrowing money from various credit schemes advertised on TV, effectively making their situation worse as they are still in debt and required to pay it back, with interest. Also, as women are also working, the majority of these will require cars to make the journey to work. More cars on the roads then leads to pollution and congestion until governments are forced to do something about the situation as in London, where the congestion charge is now effectively taking place.
Attitudes to relationships and marriage vary within different communities and religions. However, in the UK, women are now more career orientated and do not choose to marry and have children until later on in life. The average age for a woman to marry is now 28, and for men it is 30. It was traditional for the bride’s parents to pay for the wedding, but now many couples share the cost, simply because men are not the only ones working. Even in Bangladesh, recent trends suggest that both sexes are starting to marry slightly later, largely due to the changes in lifestyle as a result of education and economic factors although overall, women are still encouraged to marry young, the average age being 16.7 years.
As women are choosing to follow a career before they choose to marry, they are leaving less time to raise a family. This could effectively bring the birth rate down considerably. In certain places in Italy, the birth rate is down to below the replacement level, as women are choosing to work rather than staying at home to look after a family. Also, the majority of people have realised that if they choose not to have children, they can spend money on other things and have a more comfortable life.
In conclusion, the education of women has the potential to bring the birth rate down due to their choice of waiting until later in life to settle down and pursuing a career instead. This is made possible by the availability of family planning and contraceptives, which are not available in places such as Bangladesh where childlessness is sometimes grounds for divorce. The death rate also has the potential to decrease, due to more people on the forefront of research into the treatment of inherited diseases, cancers etc. The education of women can speed up the rate of development by bringing more money into a country, so it is unfortunate that religions, lifestyles, attitudes and also economic and political factors are preventing women from accessing education.
