#LetHerLearn--And Progress will Follow

#LetHerLearn—And Progress will Follow
1/24/2023 by Tzili Mor and Kaimyn Paszko
Authoritarian governments have met a formidable foe: resistance from students, especially young women. Education makes for informed civic actors.



Afghan women demonstrate outside the House of Parliament in London on Jan. 14, 2023, for the right of all women to education, work and freedom The protest formed in response to Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers ordering a ban on university education for women. (Wiktor Szymanowicz / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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The electrifying tumbling of the Iron Curtain in 1991 ushered in an unprecedented era of emerging democracies in Europe and across the globe. In those countries, the influx of diverse voices into governance led to higher levels of egalitarian gender attitudes and facilitated social cohesion making communities more likely to cooperate for common goods. This trend, however, has been reversing for half of the 32 years since. According to V-Dem’s 2022 Democracy Report about 70 percent of the world population now lives in autocracies, up from 49 percent a decade ago.

Yet the rising tide of authoritarian governments, many still masquerading as democracies, has met a formidable foe: resistance led by students, especially young women. Students have led many of history’s greatest protests worldwide, including the 1976 Soweto, South Africa Uprising against apartheid, to Tiananmen Square in China that same year, to climate strikes initiated by high school activists gaining global momentum in 2019. Today, young women in Afghanistan and Iran demanding basic rights and freedoms are dubbed the “gate openers of democracy.” In NDI’s dedicated Changing the Face of Politics podcast episode featuring young women leaders as part of its campaign, 19-year-old Chilean climate justice and gender equity youth activist, Julieta Martinez, interviewed 19-year-old Nigerian girls’ education activist, Peace Ayo, about the importance of education and engaging young women and girls in politics while breaking through gender norms. Ayo spoke of her desire to “be a voice to help amplify other voices” and encouraged other young women to directly advocate for and champion change. Education makes for informed civic actors.

Historically, and increasingly, women mobilize, connect across divides, and launch resistance movements as antidotes to authoritarianism and oppression, including cynical attempts to deprive them of education, constraining what and how they may learn. But “girls are still more likely than boys to never set foot in a classroom, despite the tremendous progress made over the past 20 years,” cautions the U.N. Girls face more difficulty accessing education than boys due to discriminatory social norms. Responsibilities can interfere with schooling, as well as practical obstacles ranging from sexual harassment from teachers and other students, and unavailable menstrual care products or toilet facilities in schools.



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Tuesday, Jan. 24, marked the International Day of Education, proclaimed by the U.N. General Assembly as a celebration of “the role of education for peace and development” affirms education as “a human right, a public good and a public responsibility.” Education is also a basic prerequisite for a functioning democracy. Empirical studies find that higher education rates lead to greater popular support for and more democratic politics with greater civic engagement. Likewise, better-educated nations are more likely both to preserve democracy and to protect it from backsliding. In a near virtuous cycle, research data indicates that education leads to more democracy, and democracy leads to more education, with the most concrete dividends going to rural, low- and middle-income households. Inclusive, gender-equitable democracies serve to reduce poverty and foster a more empowered populace and peaceful future. Closing the education gap for girls and women in all their diversity is key to those achievements. We all need education—the kind that spurs better, more inclusive and just futures for people and the planet. The kind that builds bridges, not walls.

https://msmagazine.com/2023/01/24/women-girls-education-equity-afghanistan/