As more women become aware of their rights and privileges through education, and are empowered to claim them, it will add more bite in the fight against their discrimination, and will step up the campaign against other unfair and harmful cultural and religious practices still going on against them in many parts of the world. Practices such as female genital mutilation, FGM, early marriage, forced marriage, denial of property rights and inheritance, and suffrage. It has also been reported in some places that women are inherited by their late husband's brother(s), and in other places forced to sleep with their late husband's corpse and drink some of the water used in bathing him to prove her innocence and non-complicity in his death. How much barbarism should one put up with in the name of gender (which one has no control over), culture and religion' These practices are archaic, odious, draconian, tiresome, and an infringement on the rights of a person and should be hastily done away with.Being educated will help empower her financially i.e. it will help make her financially independent and self-reliant, and be in a position to contribute to the socio-economic development of her society. This does not mean that those who are not educated cannot be self-reliant, but better and more dignifying opportunities are open to educated people than non-educated people. Educating her will enable her train and acquire skills that will make her employable or self-employed. She will now be in a position to earn an income to support herself. This in turn will make her less dependent on her husband in the future. Instead of being a liability to him, she will be supplementing what he earns with her own income, and together they can afford better lives.Education will also rub off in her home. This is because education will make her conscious of such things as balanced diet, family planning, personal hygiene, welfare, among other things. These knowledge, when translated practically will set her home apart from one who has no such knowledge. Her kids too will turn out better. Knowing the importance of education, she will insist on no less but the best education available coupled with sound moral training for her children. Children who pass through this road usually turn out successful and become useful members of the society. Cases of child abuse ' child labour, child molestation, child battery, neglect, early and forced marriage, and other instances of maltreatment of children will be rare and alien, if not non-existent in her home.In African society where the girl-child is looked down on and seen as being inferior to the boy-child, educating her will go a long way in correcting this notion. Statistics show that girls are doing extremely well in their studies, in their respective cadres. Results of school certificate and other examinations attest to this. Girls are also doing very well in Mathematics and Science education formerly regarded as their albatross. There is no evidence to show that they are overwhelmed by the challenges. Instead they keep going higher and higher, surpassing their previous achievement each passing day. Many examples abound of educated women who have gone ahead to achieve great feats in their chosen careers and are competing favourably with their supposed male superiors. Women truly can hold their own today. Gone are the days when a woman's place was considered to be in the kitchen. Various jobs and professions formerly considered the exclusive preserve of men have seen women doing equally well there. Women today are Engineers, Lawyers, Teachers, Doctors, Pastors, Politicians, and Service Personnel, amongst others. They are school heads ' Vice Chancellors, Principals, and Head-teachers; Senators and Representatives, General Overseers, Chairmen and Managing Directors of both private and public enterprises. Just about a year ago, a woman, Itunu Hotunu, was sworn in as the first Rear Admiral, a two star general, in the Nigerian Navy. She is also the first in Africa. This is no mean feat. Women indeed have come of age and should be encouraged. Our society would have lost the services of such great women as Professor Grace Awani Alele-Williams, MON, the first woman Vice Chancellor in Nigeria (University of Benin, UNIBEN), the first woman to bag a PhD (in Mathematics), as well as the first woman Professor of Mathematics in Nigeria (did I hear you say a lady of first's'); Her Highness, Otunba Dorcas Bolajoko Ayodele Kuforiji-Olubi, OON, the first woman Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of a bank (United Bank for Africa, UBA), first woman President of ICAN ' Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, among other first's; Mrs. Francesca Yetunde Emmanuel, CON, the first woman Permanent Secretary (Federal Ministry of Establishment), among others; and numerous others, if they were not educated.The benefits of sending a girl to school are inexhaustible and far outweigh any potential disadvantage. It is heartwarming to note that this crusade is gathering momentum worldwide. School enrolment of girls is on a record high. It can get better.'Educate the girl, educate the nation' or so the saying goes. The framers of this saying are spot on and in order. The future of this world has never being in greater danger than it is presently. Political strife, religious intolerance, ethnicity, greed and avarice, selfishness, wars and rumors of wars, environmental pollution and degradation, etc are tearing the world apart. Part of the solution to alleviating/eradicating this epidemic lies in sending the girl-child to school. Our nation nay the world need educated citizens to pilot her affairs at all levels to make her realize her full potentials and greatness. There is no better time to act than now.'Ezeogu wrote in via n_ezeogu@yahoo.com
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