How are education, women and human rights all linked together? Pretty simply, it's a maxim in international development communities that when you educate women and girls, everyone benefits.
Rather than re-inventing the wheel, here are some resources that make the argument about how educating women can be almost a "silver bullet" in terms of development. It can reverse other social and economic problems, such as childhood malnutrition or lack of economic mobility:
- Girl's and Women's Education from World Education
- Basic Education for Children and Adults from World Education
- Women's and Girl's Education from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
- Girl's Education and Gender Equality from UNICEF
- Women's Rights and Education from the ACLU
As I think about my adult ed classroom of English learners, women are often the leaders. This past semester, both of our student government representatives were women. Another woman in the class became an active social leader, organizing class celebrations and acting as class photographer. And when a male student openly professed his belief that he couldn't trust a woman president, his four female group-mates took him to task and explained why they passionately disagreed. Women in my classroom are strong!
I also think about women who are suffering in my classroom, and how I might be aware of this or not. I think about women whom I suspect are suffering domestic violence; or who might have been victims of trafficking; or who could be currently working as sex workers; or who work in environments where sexual harassment is the norm. As a teacher, I think I need more training in how to support these students. As a human, I do my best to remain present with them when they express their difficulties, not to shy away from tears, to be open to listening and thinking with them. How can I serve these women better?
Some of these women suffering violence would probably benefit from the counseling services our school provides, such as mental health or career counseling. We know from Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theory that our affective filter (the emotional pathways in our brain) can inhibit language learning when people are distracted by outside stressors; or often when people are scared or ashamed of being judged by their (in)ability to speak a language. Dispelling with this fear and shame is a first step to making language learning possible.
In a brief round of research on women's education, I was excited to come across an article on "learning carnivals." According to a World Education article, "Learning carnivals are an innovative classroom methodology that transforms literacy classes from a traditional educational environment to one in which learners play, laugh, and learn with others, while also acquiring information and skills." I would like to model my classroom on this approach.
"Gamification" of the classroom might have particular benefits for women. The more games and humor can be woven into the classroom, the more learning can occur without feeling "heavy" or "effortful." Learning is effortful, but that doesn't mean it needs to be painful. Women and men need to enjoy learning so they keep coming back. Life for women is already hard enough, so let's make the classroom a place where we lighten their load.
How is this related to human rights? The main argument here is that what is good for women's rights and education is also good for everyone. When we do something that enriches and protects people who are historically marginalized, we all benefit. I am a white male-bodied person, and I care about women's rights because we are all interconnected. Like everyone, I sometimes lose sight of that interconnection. But I know that making the classroom a great place for women to learn benefits us all.
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