Women In Asia And Africa

The two continents of Asia and Africa are the most densely populated areas in the world. Essentially, close to five billion people live here. Big parts of these continents suffer from poverty along with inequality and many countries struggle to develop, both socially and economically. However, something is alternating. In the last ten years, living standards for many inhabitants in Asia and Africa has, remarkably, changed for the better. The key to both social and economic development in Asia and Africa are the women. Educating women, primarily in English, could change the living standards of millions.

Background

What is commonly said, is that women in Africa are highly essential in the agriculture and household. Due to culture and social status, women usually stay at home while men take on the better - paying jobs. There is indeed large gap in the education, and families tend to prioritize the male children when it comes to school. On the contrary, women´s education and work is, in many places, a lot more accessible today than it used to be. Tanzania, a country in southern Africa shows a good example of this. In 2012, almost 10% of the women were working with a salary, an improvement considering only 4% were working a paying job in the year of 2000. A small change with great consequences.

Firstly, teaching English to everyone in a country diminishes the gap between the poor and the elite. Giving everyone the right to English, not just women, give people, troubled by poverty, the chance to apply to better paying jobs. Inequality is a big social issue in these countries and can many times inhibit the much needed development. "We should be doing more to bridge the gap between urban elites and the rural population", Michael Carrier, head of the British council's ELT (English Language Teaching) arm, states. Giving people access to English is really a question of