Why Educate an African Girl?

Having been born and raised in Africa there is so much injustice I have witnessed in the lives of girls and women around me.  Culturally, women play a secondary role to men.  As a young girl I quickly became weary and intolerant of the chauvinism around me. 

In the late '90's my cousin's husband passed away leaving behind four small children.  While I was too young to understand, I do recall discussions around my cousin's in-laws kicking her out of her matrimonial home and taking everything they claimed to belong to their late son.  She ended up living with her sister for three years before her case was finally resolved in court.  Her in-laws were awarded one third and she, the remaining two thirds.  My cousin's son, who went to court with his mother for the verdict, told my mother that his grandmother had cried openly in court because she was disappointment by the verdict; and I remember thinking at the time what kind of monster grandparents would put their grandchildren out on the streets just because they despised their mother??

Tashanda likes...
I Have a Story to Tell: Celebrating Ten Years of CAMFED International
This powerful book centers on the theme of the education of girls in Africa, tackling the poverty that excludes them from it, and the opportunities and improvements in health and employment that can be its consequence.

Tashanda LOVES this documentary... A MUST WATCH...

There are many more injustices I could share.  In fact, what I have presented you is just a tip of the iceberg.  I think sometimes it happens so much that it becomes the norm and one fails to see the situation for what it is.  A good friend of mine argues that one of the reasons for the spread of HIV and "small households" (mistresses & their children) is that there are no consequences for the male in the relationship.  In Africa, when a man cheats, their women tend to stay because they are not sufficiently empowered to make it on their own, they don't know their rights, and they fear the stigma of being a divorcee.  In America when a man cheats there are consequences.  You can get a lawyer and sue him, you can leave him, and you can take his money.  This is why it is important to educate an African girl.  If you educate a girl, you feed a nation, but if you educate a man (as is the case generally in Africa and other developing countries) you feed his stomach.