The Girl Effect

I found this link to a video on Oprah's website that someone posted:
http://www.oprah.com/media/20090925-tows-girl-effect

It is about how the education of women can change the world. How women are  valuable for more than their child-bearing abilities. If people in developing countries, including and especially Pakistan, could watch and understand the concept of this video...it'd no longer be a 3rd world nation.

I've always been an advocate for education. I think Pakistan needs education to thrive. Unless that's provided to the lower classes, nothing will change. They will keep being oppressed by their (mostly uneducated) feudal lords and listen to religious opinions of the Taliban because they have NO opinions of their own. To build these opinions and bring change, education is important!

Of course, in developing countries, most people's primary concern is how and where their next meal is coming from. But, like the video shows, some kind of investment for sustenance of these people needs to be made before you can educate them. Make this investment an incentive for sending their children to school; take it away if the family is not adhering to sending their girls to school. It is an excellent concept, and it's not unattainable either.

I personally think Shehzad Roy's Zindagi Trust has done it right. It's my most favorite charity. He pays children to be in class an amount equivalent to what they would make begging on the street. He is giving them an incentive while educating them. You can't learn if you're hungry. The basic needs of people have to be met.

Education is important, educating a girl, even more so. Usually, in most cultures, women are responsible for the brought up of their children. They need to be educated to do this correctly. To raise human beings that will work for the betterment of society. Women carry the generation forward. Without them, the world would be stagnant.

I hope this video does reach people and they do get something out of it. Especially the developing world. Don't underestimate the power of a woman, especially an educated one!