The World Rests with Women

I've read quite a bit of materials on how to solve the woes of the world, and amazingly, much of it has to do with the role a woman plays in life. In developing countries, most often it is the girls and women gathering water, fire sources, taking care of the garden, home, children and animals. I wish I could find the article from some years back about how countries that have either a female leader or a number of leaders do so much better with quality of life. Here are some tidbits from a recent Time article (To Fight Poverty, Invest in Girls by Nancy Gibbs, 2/14/11) that tells a little about that (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2046045,00.html):

"Across much of the developing world, by the time she is 12, a girl is tending house, cooking, cleaning. She eats what's left after the men and boys have eaten; she is less likely to be vaccinated, to see a doctor, to attend school. "If only I can get educated, I will surely be the President," a teenager in rural Malawi tells a researcher, but the odds are against her: Why educate a daughter who will end up working for her in-laws rather than a son who will support you? In sub-Saharan Africa, fewer than 1 in 5 girls make it to secondary school. Nearly half are married by the time they are 18; 1 in 7 across the developing world marries before she is 15."

"Girls under 15 are up to five times as likely to die while having children than are women in their 20s, and their babies are more likely to die as well."

"And the World Food Programme has found that when girls and women earn income, they reinvest 90% of it in their families. They buy books, medicine, bed nets."

Isn't that amazing? 90% goes back into the family, plus this stimulates the economy that supplies the family with what it needs.

"'Investment in girls' education may well be the highest-return investment available in the developing world," Larry Summers wrote when he was chief economist at the World Bank.'"

If that is so, why is the world so bent up on girls not getting an education? I'm going out on a limb, here, but I have to say that it boils down to having systems based on patriarchy.

"Success depends on infrastructure, on making fuel and water more available so girls don't have to spend as many as 15 hours a day fetching them."

Here's a link to Girl Up, which the article mentions: http://girlup.org/. It's an organization through the United Nations to promote healthy change from girls for girls. I HAVE NOT LOOKED AT THE ENTIRE SITE, so I'm not giving an endorsement yet. But if you have time to check it out, please, give me some feedback.

Thanks always,

Jessy