The Never- Ending Struggle for Education
The struggle for education is very real in Middle Eastern countries. There are fewer and fewer girls completing their education. Some girls never even start. In the Arab culture, girls are expected to stay at home and raise their children. They learn from a very young age that they are supposed to get married, have children, and raise those children. Of the women who do actually go to school, 55% are literate. Many people argue this situation stems from a regional interpretation of Islam rather than Islam itself.
Although women have struggled with education for years, it really depends on the country. In Sudan, education is a struggle for boys and girls. Many parents simply do not want their children to travel the long distances needed to attend a school. These difficulties came about due to the on-going civil war and Sudan’s desperate economic situation.
In Jordan and Yemen, the situation is more along the lines of the stereotype we as Americans believe. Many girls marry at a young age, and as a result, they drop out of secondary school. Women have stereotypical roles as well. Textbooks tell girls things such as, “My father is working and my mother is cooking.” According to a BBC News article by Safa Faisal, 80% of girls in a Jordanian secondary school said, “A woman’s job is to stay at home and raise her children.” Society also objects to girls being taught by male teachers and learning in a co-ed class.
The quality of education also plays a huge role in the struggle. It affects not only girls, but boys as well. When a learning environment is bad, remote, or unclean with no toilets, the girls tend to give up and go home. An unqualified or bad teacher can cause some girls to fail at the end of the year. Typically, after failing two or three times, girls just give up all together.
When asked by Safa Faisal why they do not allow their girls to attend school, a common Jordanian parent’s answer was, “It’s wrong, its irreligious, it’s improper. They should stay home to prepare for their real life, their married life.” Many Arab families tend to pay for boys’ education, but not the girls’.
In some countries, there are women who take the initiative to create education opportunities for themselves and other women. In Sudan, there is a woman who has created a “nomadic school”. This school teaches in the students’ home instead of in a classroom. This way of learning is very popular with girls. This keeps the girls’ education out of the eye of the Taliban and keeps them safe while they are being educated (Faisal).
Many women who defy social norms and go to school anyway are inspiring many other young women to do the same. One woman in Yemen named Rahma went to school, becoming the first in her town to graduate high school, get a job in a private clinic and the first to enroll in a healthcare training program in Yemen’s capital. Rahma has returned home and now delivers babies in her house. She gained her community’s respect and her actions have set off a chain reaction with other girls in the area.
There is also a program in Jordan aimed at recent female college graduates. This program helps businesses overcome the fear of hiring women, which allows these women to get jobs and valuable training needed
in the private sector. It gives other women the confidence to go to school. These women can go to school knowing they will get a good education and a job after they graduate (“Gender Equality and Development in the Middle East and North Africa Region”).
In 1919, an organization called the Institute of International Education began to provide refuge to displaced and persecuted scholars. This place now provides innovative training to women in the Arab world. This training provides these women with the skills and knowledge to succeed as effective leaders around the
world. They also provide these women with the knowledge to teach other girls in their region or community. This organization focuses solely on the purpose of advancing and developing women leaders. IIE provides women with the scholarships needed to attend school through a program called Women in Technology. WIT trained 11,000 women and provided 2,500 low-income women with scholarships. After completing this program, 60 new businesses began in the Middle East. Women who had been a part of IIE owned these businesses "IIE's Center for Women's Leadership Initiatives".
Despite all of these advancements, women still struggle. It will be a long time before they are viewed as true equals by employers and by their male peers. Although women are more likely to attend a university, they are less likely to pursue a career. They learn it is their job to stay home and raise the children.
Goals for the future of education equality in the Middle East should be complete gender equality. All people should be able to get an education if they so choose. An educated person, either male or female, can make better contributions to their community. There should be nothing stopping a woman from becoming the best she can be. After reaching equality, the communities can begin to improve their economic status. With more diversity in government, these countries could begin to improve the overall well-being of all citizens.
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