Publish at June 19 2024 Updated June 19 2024
What is privilege? The question regularly arises as certain groups in society try to demonstrate the advantages of a majority. There is no clear philosophical definition. What does seem to emerge is the idea that it is a state that is seen as ordinary for one group, but which is not shared by many others in a locality, nation or internationally.
In the West, for example, equality between men and women is rooted in values, even if there are still many issues to be resolved. In the rest of the world, however, these gains are either still lacking or very fragile. A glance at this list of committed women is enough to remind us of the extent to which there are still issues on which activism remains essential: excision, birth control, discrimination against mothers from immigrant backgrounds or access to education. Indeed, in many nations, girls are forbidden to attend school, or see many obstacles standing between them and it:
In short, it's a complex situation that has been brought to light by a very special figure in recent years: Malala Yousafzai.
In 2009, a young Pakistani woman blogged on the BBC website about the need for her and her female compatriots to go to school and learn. She also denounces Taliban abuses in the Swat Valley. This action put her, no pun intended, in the group's crosshairs. On October 9, 2012, members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan attacked her school bus and shot her in the head. Fortunately, she survived the attack, and two years later won the Nobel Peace Prize. A rather special prize, since Pakistan welcomed this first Nobel Prize for the country, and at the same time, Malala is still threatened with death if she returns to her native land.
Her journey has become an inspiration to the world. Today, the woman lives in the UK, is an Oxford graduate and is involved in various projects promoting girls' education. In 2021, she wrote an open letter asking the Taliban in Afghanistan to reverse their decision to ban girls' education. Unfortunately, this was not followed up and the situation is still, at the time of writing, the same for young Afghan girls. Malala has continued to travel to see and encourage progress in Jordan, Iraq, Kenya and Nigeria, among others.
Because, as the activist says, for a handful of successes, there are still a hundred million girls in complicated situations around the world. The United Nations and UNESCO have drawn up a plan to ensure that all girls have access to education by 2030. In October 2023, 122 million girls still did not. A large proportion of these are in sub-Saharan Africa; half of the remaining out-of-school children are on the African continent. This poses major difficulties not only for the global culture of these countries, but also for their economies. Limitations on girls' education would lead to a $15-30,000 billion loss of productivity and revenue for all these nations. Investing in girls' education is therefore well worth the cost, and is the most effective way of ensuring their presence in education.
Fortunately, a number of countries are getting on board. Nigeria, mentioned earlier and visited by Malala, has injected funds into an initiative to enable adolescent girls to learn and empower themselves. They have renovated 5,000 classrooms to make them safe for them. 250,000 girls have received scholarships, and many have received training in digital skills, health education, awareness-raising and prevention of gender-based violence, etc. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, public authorities have lifted financial restrictions imposed to encourage the presence of teenage girls at school.
These few examples clearly show that when the political will is there, countries realize the economic and social benefits when young girls have access to knowledge. We must, however, work hard to combat ignorance and mistrust of the presence of educated women among certain political or religious groups.
Malala is a prime example of the importance of speaking out and fighting for access to this need recognized by the Human Rights Charter. Above all, we must never take these recent or older rights for granted. Recent years have shown how quickly these can be lost.
Image : Pixabay
References :
"Afghanistan: Malala asks Taliban to let girls go back to school." Arab News FR. Last updated: October 18, 2021. https://www.arabnews.fr/node/155801/international.
"In Nigeria, UN No. 2 and Malala defend girls' right to education." UN GENEVA. last updated July 12, 2023. https://www.ungeneva.org/fr/news-media/news/2023/07/82900/au-nigeria-la-numero-2-de-lonu-et-malala-defendent-le-droit-des.
Bentaouet Kattan, Raja, and Myra Murad Khan. "Girls' education particularly at risk in conflict-affected countries: here's how to reach them." World Bank Blogs. last updated March 12, 2024. https://blogs.worldbank.org/fr/education/leducation-des-filles-est-particulierement-en-danger-dans-les-pays-touches-par-un-conflit.
"What new UNESCO data reveals about progress in girls' access to education." UNESCO. last updated October 11, 2023. https://www.unesco.org/fr/articles/ce-que-les-nouvelles-donnees-de-lunesco-revelent-sur-les-progres-en-matiere-dacces-des-filles.
Frigenti, Laura. "Why Invest in Girls' Education?" Global Partnership For Education. Last updated March 4, 2024. https://www.globalpartnership.org/fr/blog/pourquoi-investir-dans-leducation-des-filles.
"Malala's fight for education in Pakistan: What is the reality on the ground?" France Culture. last updated October 10, 2014. https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/journal-de-22h/le-combat-de-malala-pour-l-education-au-pakistan-quelle-realite-sur-place-8556942.
"Malala Yousafzai's inspiring story: Lessons for committed entrepreneurs." Talenty. last updated May 26, 2023. https://talenty.fr/malala-yousafzai/.
"Girls' Education." NGO Plan International France. last updated March 21, 2024. https://www.plan-international.fr/nos-combats/education-et-formation-professionnelle/l-acces-a-l-education/.
"Malala Yousafzai: How a schoolgirl turned Nobel Peace Prize winner defied the Taliban." RTBF. RTBF. last updated June 14, 2023. https://www.rtbf.be/article/malala-yousafzai-comment-une-ecoliere-devenue-prix-nobel-de-la-paix-a-defie-les-talibans-11212154.
"Why investing in girls' and women's education is a wise choice: questions and answers." UNESCO. last updated March 7, 2024. https://www.unesco.org/fr/articles/pourquoi-investir-dans-leducation-des-filles-et-des-femmes-est-un-choix-judicieux-questions-reponses.
Radrianarimino, Vaniala. "Women's rights, the fight against SGBV, climate... Focus sur neuf femmes qui s'engagent." L'Etudiant. L'Etudiant. last updated March 29, 2024. https://www.letudiant.fr/lifestyle/droits-des-femmes-lutte-contre-les-vss-climat-focus-sur-neuf-femmes-qui-sengagent.html.
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