Latest Blog Our Commitment to Girls' Education At United World Schools, we’re committed to sending all children to school and we’re particularly passionate about girls' education. There is still a huge gender gap in education: globally, there are 31 million primary-age girls out of school and UNESCO reports that girls are more likely to never enter primary school than boys. We want to change this. We are therefore delighted that G7 partners have announced a three-billion-dollar pledge to help the world’s poorest girls go to school. Countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan have signed up to a three-year investment in girls' education. “This commitment will give more girls hope that they can build a brighter future for themselves and their countries. It gives young women in developing countries the opportunity to pursue careers instead of early marriage and child labour” – Malala Yousafzai. Why does Girls' Education matter? Girls' education is crucial to achieving gender equality. Attending school can prevent girls from marrying young and starting families at an early age. Instead, education gives girls better job opportunities and higher lifetime earnings, allowing them to break out of the cycle of poverty they may be born into. Plus, education gives women the voice to participate in politics and empower other women. Girls' education benefits everyone. There are multiple health benefits to educating women, such as reduced infant mortality. A child born to a mother who can read is 50% more likely to survive past the age of five. What’s more, an educated female population increases a country’s productivity and economic growth. So how are we helping? We're enrolling girls into our schools…When we find a community in need of a school, we meet with parents and local leaders. Before we agree to build a school in their village, we make sure they want to send all their children to school, including girls. ...and keeping them there.Once the school is open, we keep an eye on how many girls are attending it. And if there don’t seem to be as many as there should, our fantastic Education Officers and School Support Committees work with local communities to get girls into our schools. Then we give them a pathway to secondary school. As the communities we work with are so remote, often government secondary schools are too far away to walk to every day. So in Cambodia, we’ve built dormitory blocks next to these secondary schools. Girls and boys can stay in these during the week, allowing them to continue their education. And we provide the female residents with sanitary towels, so their periods don’t stop them from attending school. Read more about how our dormitories help girls here. This is just the beginning. The G7 commitment shows that the world is taking note of the need for female education. And at United World Schools, we’re working every day to get as many girls as possible into our schools. You can help: Donate to support girls' education.