Jonathan Kleiman, Media and Marketing
I’ve thought about why specifically I’m drawn to women’s education. There are, of course, plenty of reasons to believe it’s important. The benefits of educating a woman pervade her life and the many communities to which she belongs. An educated woman will have fewer children, be in better health, avoid more abuse, and the economy of her family, her village and her country will improve as she starts generating income herself. This is all fantastic. But it’s not, I’ve realized, what compels me most.
I am compelled by education’s capacity to empower, to equip people with the tools and autonomy to direct their own lives.
Women in the developing world are among the most disenfranchised. Many marry young, lucky by then if they’ve learned how to read, and spend their lives raising their large families and living at the mercy of their more powerful husbands. They maintain almost no autonomy to chart the course of their own lives. Without educations, they are left to live the lives their culture has prescribed.
To educate a woman in a culture like this is to restore to her some basic humanity, to give her the tools to chart the course of her life. This is what compels me. This is why I’m so thrilled to join the Akilah team.