It seems like a distant problem for girls at Arrowhead, and in the United States in general. Girls don’t need to be concerned with getting an education. They aren’t putting their safety on the line to simply attend school. They don’t have overwhelming social pressure on them and their families to refrain them from stepping out of the sphere of domesticity. For the most part, girls in developed countries are free to be educated. So, why should people be concerned that girls in developing countries and stricter societies are lacking the right to an education?

The oppression of gender equal education is no longer old fashioned and sexist. There is an ulterior motive. In societies strict with traditional ideals, more so than developing countries, the oppression is deliberate and a preventative strategy to retain power.

According to Nicholas Kristof, a columnist for The New York Times, “That’s what extremists do. They target educated girls, their worst nightmare because there’s no force more powerful to transform a society. The greatest threat to extremism isn’t drones firing missiles, but girls reading books.”

The largest benefit for educating women stems from their ability to change the demographics. Girls have the potential to change the poverty cycle through their education. According to a Nigerian study, a boy if educated has fewer children while a girl, if educated, has a smaller family which leads to a decrease in population. Furthermore, the same study correlated that, “for each additional year of primary school, a girl has 0.26 fewer children. So if we want to reduce the youth bulge a decade from now, educate girls today.”

Educated girls will help solve the future’s problems but the economy is suffering presently from the exclusion of capable women in the workforce or as an intelligent head of family finances. According to a study done by a United Nations funded project The Girl Effect, “In India, adolescent pregnancy results in nearly $10billion in lost potential income. In Uganda, 85 percent of girls leave school early, resulting in $10billion in lost potential earnings. By delaying child marriage and early birth for one million girls, Bangladesh could potentially add $69billion to the national income over these girls’ lifetimes.”

More simply, educating girls can boost the economy through increasing and potentially doubling the labor force. This raises the standard of living and according to the article, “What’s So Scary About Smart Girls, it “promotes a virtuous cycle of development.” Above all, through educating girls, society is unleashing a wealth of untapped potential that deserves to be let free.