With a foreword by Foreword by MALALA YOUSAFZAI Winthrop s MALALA YOUSAFZAI p E Student, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and Cofounder of the Malala Fund rlin What Works in Hard-headed evidence demonstrating that no nation or family G can afford not to invest in the education of girls Girls’ Education Gene Sperling, coauthor of the seminal 2004 work on this subject published by the Council What Works Works What on Foreign Relations, and Rebecca Winthrop, director of the Center for Universal Education at Brookings, have written the definitive book on the importance of girls’ education and what Evidence works to ensure that all girls get a quality education. As Malala Yousafzai expresses in her fore- word, the idea that any child could be denied an education due to poverty, custom, the law, or for the terrorist threats is just wrong and unimaginable. What Works in Girls’ Education provides ample evidence that high-quality girls’ education around the world leads to wide-ranging returns: World’s Best Better outcomes in economic areas of growth and incomes Investment Reduced rates of infant and maternal mortality Reduced rates of child marriage Reduced rates of the incidence of HIV/AIDS and malaria in Increased agricultural productivity Increased resilience to natural disasters Girls’ Women’s empowerment What Works in Girls’ Education is a compelling work for both concerned global citizens and every academic, expert, nongovernmental organization (NGO) staff member, policymaker, or journalist seeking to dive into the evidence and policies on girls’ education. Education GEnE spErlinG is the founder of the Center of Universal Education. He was National Economic Adviser in the White House for President Clinton (1996–2001) and President Obama (2011–2014). He is also the founder of the U.S. Chapter of the Global Campaign for Education, a cofounder of the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict (with Angelina Jolie), a member of the U.N. Millennium Task Force on Girls’ Education, and he represented the U.S. government at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, in 2000. rEBEcca Winthrop is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Universal Educa- tion at Brookings, and a leading voice on education issues in the developing world. She is the former head of education for the International Rescue Committee, and has spent more than twenty years advising international institutions and senior policymakers. She has field experience in multiple countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Her work focuses on girls’ education, learning opportunities for the world’s most marginalized children, and innovative education models. BROOKINGS INSTITUTION PRESS GEnE B. s pErlinG rEBEcca Winthrop Washington, D.C. and www.brookings.edu/press With christina kWauk Sperling-Winthrop_Cover.indd 1 9/17/15 12:03 PM What Works in Girls Education-FINAL.indd 1 9/18/15 9:13 AM What Works in Girls Education-FINAL.indd 2 9/18/15 9:13 AM What Works in Girls Education-FINAL.indd 3 9/18/15 9:13 AM Copyright © 2016 THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 www.brookings.edu All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the Brookings Institution Press. The Brookings Institution is a private nonprofit organization devoted to research, education, and publication on important issues of domestic and foreign policy. Its principal purpose is to bring the highest quality inde- pendent research and analysis to bear on current and emerging policy problems. Interpretations or conclu- sions in Brookings publications should be understood to be solely those of the authors. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available. 978-0-8157-2860-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 978-0-8157-2861-0 (epub) 978-0-8157-2862-7 (pdf) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Design and Composition by Chris Krupinski What Works in Girls Education-FINAL.indd 4 9/18/15 9:13 AM To our mothers To Doris Sperling, for 50 years as an education pioneer for equity and for assessing and teaching every child as an individual, for founding the Family Learning Institute, for improving the lives of countless students, and for being a hero to her children, grandchildren, and husband. To Kathryn Winthrop, for loving, supporting, and empowering her daughters; for being a role model, showing that it is never too late to pursue your dreams and that success is possible as a woman in a man’s world; and for making the world a better place through her preservation of our cultural heritage. What Works in Girls Education-FINAL.indd 5 9/18/15 9:13 AM What Works in Girls Education-FINAL.indd 6 9/18/15 9:13 AM CONTENTS xv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii FOREWORD 1 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION The Power of Evidence and Girls’ Education ..........................................4 “Especially Girls”: Never Forgetting the Boys........................................4 Girls’ Education: Progress and Crisis .........................................................6 A Commitment to the Evidence on What Works ...................................7 Five Compelling Challenges ..........................................................................8 1. Quality Learning ..............................................................................................9 2. Reducing Violence Against Girls and Helping Girls Learn, Even in Conflicts and Emergencies .............................................10 3. Secondary Education and Adolescent Girls ..........................................11 4. Transitions from School to Work ...............................................................12 5. Empowering Girls to Lead .........................................................................12 The Positive Generational Cycle of Girls’ Education .........................13 15 CHAPTER 2. THE WORLD’S BEST INVESTMENT: GIRLS’ EDUCATION 1. Increases Economic Growth ....................................................................19 Evidence Continues to Mount That Increases in Girls’ Education Have a Positive Impact on a Developing Nation’s Growth .....................................................................20 The Quality of Schooling Is Closely Associated with Economic Growth ........................................................................................21 Increased Female Education Increases Agricultural Productivity .........22 2. Leads to Better Wages and Jobs for Women ...................................24 Education Increases Women’s Wages .......................................................25 Education Helps Women Get Better Jobs and Reduce Rates of Vulnerable Employment ..........................................................................27 3. Saves the Lives of Children and Mothers ..........................................29 Children’s Lives Are Saved When Mothers Have a Better Education ...........................................................................................29 Increased Women’s Education Lowers Maternal Mortality ....................33 What Works in Girls Education-FINAL.indd 7 9/18/15 9:13 AM 4. Leads to Smaller and More Sustainable Families.........................35 5. Results in Healthier and Better-Educated Children ..................... 38 Mothers’ Education Reduces Malnutrition and Stunting ....................... 38 Mothers’ Education Improves Children’s Health and Immunization Rate ....................................................................................... 40 Mothers’ Education Increases Children’s Schooling ...............................42 6. Reduces Rates of HIV/AIDS and Malaria......................................... 44 7. Reduces Rates of Child Marriage ......................................................... 48 8. Empowers Women .......................................................................................52 9. Increases Women’s Political Leadership .......................................... 54 10. Reduces Harm to Families from Natural Disasters and Climate Change ......................................................................................... 58 63 CHAPTER 3. GLASS HALF FULL: THERE HAS BEEN REAL PROGRESS, BUT A GIRLS’ EDUCATION CRISIS REMAINS The Progress Made ..........................................................................................65 The Crisis Remaining ..................................................................................... 66 Six Lenses for Viewing the Progress and Crisis in Girls’ Education ................................................................................................. 68 1. Enrollment in Primary School: How Many Girls Start? ....................... 69 2. Completing Their Education: How Many Girls Make It Through Secondary School? ......................................................72 3. Are Girls Learning and Receiving a High-Quality Education? ...........75 4. How Are Girls Doing in the Hot Spots, the Countries Still Lagging Behind? ..................................................................................77 5. How Do Violence and Humanitarian Crises Affect Girls’ and Boys’ Education? ......................................................................79 Crises: War, Disaster, and Epidemics .............................................79 Political Violence and Attacks on Education ..................................82 6. How Are the Most Disadvantaged and Most Marginalized Girls Progressing? ...............................................................83