In Pakistan, almost 22.5 million children are not attending school. Due to lack of educational facilities provided from the government, the number of children growing up with no education is slowly growing. Girls are especially vulnerable to these low numbers of years in school. Just in Balochistan, Pakistan, 81% of girls are not attending any school, instead these young girls are working, being married off, or living with constant sexual harassment from men that have more power (a consequence of men getting better positions in the workplace and society due to actually having an education). While many women are desperate to continue their studies it is not their decision and they have to face the consequence of being uneducated and not being able to make their own decisions politically, societally, and for deciding their own future.
I think that Pakistan needs to make it mandatory for all children to attend school through high school. By not making school a mandatory, the Pakistan government is acknowledging the female inequality in the country and blatantly ignoring it. If families are struggling financially they are not going to worry about their daughters education they are going to try and arrange a marriage with a family so they no longer have to be financially responsible for her. If we do not start a bigger push for women’s education, these women will never be able to have a voice. Without an education they are not going to be able voice the basic women rights that they should have access to. Women, in the Middle East, especially, are constantly under attack when it comes to gender equality. That stats are there, and yet it continues to be a greatly ignored situation in todays society. We know its there, and yet we are letting it happen. On an international level, we should make a greater push to demand for gender equality, especially in countries such as Pakistan that so greatly discriminate against women, silently taking away their voices.