Giving girls and women equal rights as the men is empowering them to greater things. When women are empowered, the possibility for economic growth becomes apparent. If given this opportunity, the benefits of investing in women and girls are endless.

a) With gender equality, a girl would be treated as equal from the second they are born. Girls make up 60 percent of the 77 million children not attending primary school. Offering girls a basic education would not only ensure a great and confident start in life but also a guaranteed ripple effect in the coming years.

A woman is human. She is not better, wiser, stronger, more intelligent, more creative, or more responsible than a man. Likewise, she is never less. Equality is a given. – Vera Nazarian

b) A world bank report says that women make up two thirds of the estimated 876 million adults worldwide who cannot read or write. It’s well known that women who are educated are far more likely to have fewer and healthier children than those who are denied education.

c) There would be less teenage pregnancies and all the complications that come with it. Less baby mortality . Women would have few children who they would be able to look after and because they were educated they would mostly educate their own too.

Fact: Of the 1.3 billion people who live in absolute poverty around the world, 70 percent are women.

d) Women work two thirds of the worlds working hours according to the United Nations Millennium Campaign to halve world poverty by 2015. Most of these jobs are menial jobs that give them very little respect within their families and their society. With these jobs they end up earning 10 percent of the worlds income and less than 1 percent of the worlds property.

e) When gender equality is promoted, girls and women improve their lives, those of their families and community.

Why is gender equality important? Because “none of us can move forward if half of us are held back”… If we know this already, why are we not empowering these girls and women from the get go?