Gender inequality has been an ongoing issue eversince the first record of history. Today, with rising empowerment and the right protesting, the value of women in the perception of global societies has risen significantly. However, there is still an issue of giving women a secondary rank in terms of societal values. Women, being married young, beginning to work before they become adolescents, and living in countries below the poverty line, tend to validate being beated by their husbands for burning the food, an issue that can arise from juggling so many responsibilities around and forgetting the stove on for as little as 1 minute extra. Although it seems that the poverty line in these women’s countries would lead women to be subject to such values, the key would lie in a more concrete matter, which is education. Education is key to empowerment, to discovering one’s boundaries, and to be able to develop a skill set to be more productive, more efficient, and have more impact. This has proven successful in countries in Northern Africa and the Middle East, and would be ideal if it were to be applied in Africa. In conclusion, investing in the education system must be the primary focus of a nation willing to end its gender gap.
Childbirth is considered to be a landmark and joyous moment in any woman’s life. And although health experts say that no two childbirth experiences are the same, it is quite astounding that this can, in many cases, reach the extreme of death. According to statistics released by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Population Division, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank Group, around 2.8 million pregnant women and newborns die every year of preventable causes [1]. This turns childbirth into an event to be feared as it poses a significant threat to the lives of many women across the globe. According to the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs, quality education is defined as one the of the seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs), so how can education help mitigate childbirth mortality?
“Pregnancy is not a disease. It should not lead to deaths. Every maternal death should be regarded as an abnormality.” – Vivianne Ihekweazu, Director of the Nigerian Health Watch [2]
How are Childbirth Deaths Related to Education?
The World Development Indicators data from the World Bank [3] allows us to look into the impact of education on childbirth by exploring the percentage of births that are handle by skilled health staff. In the figure below, we plot the average life expectancy at birth in years with respect to the average percentage of births attended by skilled staff for each country. There is a clear positive correlation between the two variables. We therefore conclude that children who are delivered by skilled health workers during labor are more likely to have a higher life expectancy.
However, the impact of having educated people overseeing child delivery does not stop here. Unfortunately, carrying out child delivery without proper understanding of the necessary health procedures has more alarming implications. In the dashboard below, we notice a sharp decrease in both maternal mortality (women dying during labor) and neonatal mortality (newborns dying at birth) in countries where more childbirths are handled by skilled health workers. This implies that many of the childbirth related deaths can be attributed to the lack of necessary health skills.
Where are these Childbirth Deaths Mostly Occurring?
Below we find the places that suffer the most from this by selecting the countries that have a below average percentage of births attended by skilled staff.
By looking at the geographical distribution of these countries we unsurprisingly find that the majority is located in Africa. Furthermore, we notice that the educational attainment in these countries is significantly lower than countries that have more professionally handled childbirths. This is an expected causality since to have more skilled people perform childbirth procedures we need more educated people.
So the Solution Is, Educate More People!
“The benefits of education permeate all walks of life right from the moment of birth.” – Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO [4]
In light of the above, we clearly need to have more educated people that are able to professionally handle childbirth procedures. This is especially needed in developing countries where childbirth mortality is more pronounced. A key approach strategy here is to educate the local birth attendants and community midwives that are already active in these communities. These local and community health workers are already more connected to the women and families in their towns making their newly found skills more accessible and allowing them to spread health awareness to pregnant women in their communities [5]. Finally some communities in rural Africa are located in remote locations faraway from any medical supply and service centers. Therefore, setting up portable medical outposts near these towns would greatly enhance the quality of services provided by birth attendants.
“It’s fine, he was just having a bad day”, she says as she wipes the blood from her mouth.
“He had a rough day at work, I should’ve been nicer today”, she gasps as her breath cuts short as she feels the bruises around her ribs.
“It’s okay, he works hard and wants to let off some steam”, she mumbles as she finally succumbs to her injuries, and loses consciousness.
This is not a fictitious narrative. For 38% of women on the globe, this is their horrific reality.
And the worst part is?
They accept it.
Domestic violence has been a haunting ghost for as long as stories go back in history, its insidious presence latching onto individuals’ weaknesses and anger, and disguising itself as a coping mechanism to the extent that, it is recognized, and not renounced.
Afghanistan has a disturbing dominant position, having a whopping 46% of women being exposed to domestic violence in the 12 months that have passed.
To put things into perspective, that means that 6.5 million women are victims of domestic violence on an annual basis.
544,000 each month.
18 women each day.
Even more ghastly is the fact that 85% of women in Afghanistan believe that this violence is driven by cause and can be justified. That it’s a normal part of being in a relationship with your spouse. That to have a life without it is something odd. It’s their fault, they didn’t have the food ready. It’s their fault they’re tired and can’t attend to their spouse’s needs.
Social intervention is a must in these cases. And Afghanistan is not a lone warrior in its battle as many unfortunately mirror its dire reality. A reality were women accept defeat. And that reality has to be made obsolete.
In many countries, women are yet to earn their rights and safety. As parliamentary seats are directly related to a society’s acceptance of equal gender rights, would more women in power help establish such equality?
The Arab world is considered one of the most youthful regions in the world. More than half (54%) of the total population are aged below 25 compared to 48% for the rest of the world. Given the important contribution adolescents and children will have in securing their countries’ future, it is necessary to monitor their social, mental and health situation. For that purpose, this study will be considering two indicators: adolescent’s fertility rate and the percentage of children out of school. The first reflects the overall situation of young females concerning child marriage and the second reflects the access to education for the countries belonging to the Arab League.
By monitoring adolescent’s fertility rate for the past 60 years, it is noticed that the overall situation improved significantly and approached the average world trend going from 134 to 46 birth per 1000 for women aged 15 to 19 in the last 60 years. The situation is nevertheless not the same for all Arab states as countries like Somalia and Mauritania still present critically high rates.
On the other hand, despite the decrease in the percentage of children out of school from 43% until 14% in the last 60 years, the figures remain higher than the world average (8% in 2020) which marks a critical condition for the access to education. Looking at each individual state, we notice a significant discrepancy between countries like Sudan at 42% children out of school and Oman at nearly 1%.
Throughout our work, we found that the situation is not the same for all children and adolescents in the Arab world as their situation is still vulnerable in countries like Sudan and Mauritania due to limited access to education and high percentages of child marriage (adolescent’s fertility). It is therefore essential for associations like Himaya or Kafa to intervene in such countries to improve children’s and adolescents social and physical wellbeing.
