Girls & Education

When you visit a local elementary school, you will see little girls and boys playing together, singing  together and educate themselves. There might be change when it comes to high school or university years, but you will still see girls and boys going to schools and trying their best to be successful. It is something very common for us.  But it would be very strange if you saw this in some parts of Africa or Asia. There is higher chance of seeing classes with 28 boys and only 2 girls than seeing classes with equal amount of boys or girls. If you think that it is only because girls don´t want to go to school, you are wrong - the main reason is they are not allowed to do so.

Every child has right to be educated and girls are not the exception. Education is very important for girls, it can help them to get a job or they might learn about all the needs their future families and children will have. The girls who go to school are also less likely to be sold into slavery or get married at very early age. Despite recent success in bringing more girls to schools, the school attendance of girls still goes up and down and many girls drop out after a few years or even months spent at school. Especially the high school is crucial in girls´s growth and they learn how to avoid many sicknesses, such as AIDS/HIV, diarrhea or cholera and take care of themselves and their families. According to statistics, there were still more than 50-60 million girls out of the school all around the world in 2013. 

There are various reasons why girls don´t go to school, while it´s no problem for boys. One of the main reasons is high tuition fees and families can either afford to send only one or two kids or they can´t afford to send any kids at all. Another reason are bad sanitation & sanitation conditions at schools - girls and boys share same toilets or showers - it leads to sicknesses and there are also reported cases or rape or other kinds of abusive behavior towards the girls. Girls can also be bullied at schools more than boys, so they often decide to leave the school on their own after negative experience. Families often sell girls to slavery or they force to marry older man to get money and after this, girls are usually forced to stay at home and take care of the household instead of studying. There are statistics which show that more than 1/3 of girls in developing countries are married before being 18 years old and another 1/3 had a first baby before turning 20 years old. However, these are only a few reasons why girls are not allowed to go to school. 

In following years, we have to make sure that we try the best to make women and men more equal. The situation has been getting better and better recently, but there is still a difference, especially when it comes to school attendance. The girls are more motivated and empowered to attend the lessons and go to school and in case there is any problem, they are asked to talk about it. Education opens new doors and the girls have so many possibilites to do better things in their lives with required knowledge and experience they gain at school. So why not to change it?

Resources: United Nations, Red Cross, UNICEF

10 Interesting Facts About Breastfeeding

There was World Breastfeeding Week last week and because I think that breastfeeding is very important not only for babies, but also for their mothers, I decided to write something about it. Human´s milk has many benefits for newborn babies, such as protecting them from various diseases and sicknesses. But did you know that also mothers can benefit from breastfeeding? The mothers who breastfeed their children, are less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer and they are also better prevented from heart attack. Apart from keeping people healthy, it can also help to fight obesity, reduce mother´s weight and save money, too. Here is a list of a few very interesting facts which you might not know about this liquid and breastfeeding.

1. Babies who are breast fed are less likely to suffer from various diseases, such as: leukemia, diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, eczema or Hodkin´s disease. And if a child is girl, breastfeeding helps her to reduce a possibility of being diagnosed with a breast cancer in the future.

2. Almost three-quarters of moms produce more milk with their right breast. And it has nothing to do with being right-handed or left-handed.

3. Who needs to go to gym? According to scientists, it takes 500-1000 calories a day on average to produce breast milk.

4. Babies never remove 100% of the milk their mothers have available, on average they remove just 60-70% of it.

5. Breastfeeding might boost IQ. Scientists believe that breast fed babies´s IQs may even reach 8 points higher than babies who aren't breast fed.

6. Doctors estimate that each nipple has 15-20 openings to release milk.

7. Breastfeeding can save a family really a huge amount of money which would be invested to food for baby. It is believed that breastfeeding saves a family approximately a few thousand dollars annually (compared to cost of formula). And you can even sell the milk - it is sold on the Internet for $4 per ounce.

8. Breastfed infants are at lower risk for sudden infant death syndrome.

9. You don´t have to notice it, but human milk changes during each feeding and its composition also changes throughout the day.

10. Human milk contains substances which promote sleep and calmness in the babies. Breastfeeding also calms mother and helps her bond to baby.

Resources: UNICEF, Red Cross, Health Foundations