What’s So Scary About Smart Girls?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

WHEN terrorists in Nigeria organized a secret attack last month, they didn’t target an army barracks, a police department or a drone base. No, Boko Haram militants attacked what is even scarier to a fanatic: a girls’ school.

That’s what extremists do. They target educated girls, their worst nightmare.

That’s why the Pakistani Taliban shot Malala Yousafzai in the head at age 15. That’s why the Afghan Taliban throws acid on the faces of girls who dare to seek an education.

Why are fanatics so terrified of girls’ education? Because there’s no force more powerful to transform a society. The greatest threat to extremism isn’t drones firing missiles, but girls reading books.

In that sense, Boko Haram was behaving perfectly rationally — albeit barbarically — when it kidnapped some of the brightest, most ambitious girls in the region and announced plans to sell them as slaves. If you want to mire a nation in backwardness, manacle your daughters.

What saddens me is that we in the West aren’t acting as rationally. To fight militancy, we invest overwhelmingly in the military toolbox but not so much in the education toolbox that has a far better record at defeating militancy.

President Obama gives the green light to blow up terrorists with drones, but he neglects his 2008 campaign promise to establish a $2 billion global fund for education. I wish Republicans, instead of investigating him for chimerical scandals in Benghazi, Libya, would shine a light on his failure to follow through on that great idea.

So why does girls’ education matter so much? First, because it changes demography.

One of the factors that correlates most strongly to instability is a youth bulge in a population. The more unemployed young men ages 15 to 24, the more upheaval.

One study found that for every 1 percentage point increase in the share of the population aged 15 to 24, the risk of civil war increases by 4 percent.

That means that curbing birthrates tends to lead to stability, and that’s where educating girls comes in. You educate a boy, and he’ll have fewer children, but it’s a small effect. You educate a girl, and, on average, she will have a significantly smaller family. One robust Nigeria study managed to tease out correlation from causation and found that for each additional year of primary school, a girl has 0.26 fewer children. So if we want to reduce the youth bulge a decade from now, educate girls today.

More broadly, girls’ education can, in effect, almost double the formal labor force. It boosts the economy, raising living standards and promoting a virtuous cycle of development. Asia’s economic boom was built by educating girls and moving them from the villages to far more productive work in the cities.

One example of the power of girls’ education is Bangladesh, which until 1971 was (the seemingly hopeless) part of Pakistan. After Bangladesh gained independence, it emphasized education, including of girls; today, it actually has more girls in high school than boys. Those educated women became the backbone of Grameen Bank, development organizations like BRAC and the garment industry.

Likewise, Oman in the 1960s was one of the most backward countries in the world, with no television, no diplomats and radios banned. Not a single girl attended school in Oman. Then there was a coup, and the new government educated boys and girls alike.

Today, Oman is stable and incomparably better off than its neighbor, Yemen, where girls are still married off young and often denied an education. America is fighting Al Qaeda affiliates in Yemen and Pakistan with drones; maybe we should invest in girls’ schools as Bangladesh and Oman did.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/opinion/sunday/kristof-whats-so-scary-about-smart-girls.html

[mota bhai 2,675]

This article uses Bangladesh to corroborate its point? Holy wow.

[Karee 4,191]

Smart Girls = Oxymoron.

[Merrytooth 5,748]

They should follow Mao Zedong's philosophy of "Women hold up half the sky", stop oppressing women.

[Crashed~N2~Me 970]

Smart Girls = Oxymoron.

+1 for your courage. Reckless Abandon is to be applauded regardless.

Edited May 14, 2014 by Crashed~N2~Me

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

“Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.”

-- Good Ol' Samuel Johnson

[mota bhai 2,675]

Some women are smart, but all women are crazy*.

* sometimes in a very lovable way

Edited May 14, 2014 by mota bhai

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Smart Girls = Oxymoron.

I think I am offended by that.

I will know for sure when my post gets deleted

Some women are smart, but all women are crazy*.

* sometimes in a very lovable way

WORD

[Novembro 1,763]

You don't need to be smart to understand the basics of sandwich art.

[rlogan 2,036]

Smart girls do as they are told.

[Peikko 1,575]

This article uses Bangladesh to corroborate its point? Holy wow.

In this instance it's warranted. The education of women has risen substantially and the birth rate has dropped.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

I know we joke around at times but the total disregard of women and lack of respect them in this thread is sucking

We all had mothers and should respect chicks

[Karee 4,191]

I know we joke around at times but the total disregard of women and lack of respect them in this thread is sucking

We all had mothers and should respect chicks

Go wash the dishes Nancy.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

I know we joke around at times but the total disregard of women and lack of respect them in this thread is sucking

We all had mothers and should respect chicks

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Go wash the dishes Nancy.

This is no joking matter