Three out of four women in Kent believe education is the defining factor in climbing the career ladder and gender equality, according to a new report.
Plan UK, one of the world’s largest children’s development organisations, carried out the survey as part of its Girls Without Voices campaign, which aims to help women in deprived countries go to school.
To raise awareness of the need for education in the developing world, researchers spoke to women across Kent to highlight the importance of schooling and to see how they benefited from the British system.
They found that two thirds of women believed education is an important factor when coming up against men in the workplace.
Findings also revealed that 70 per cent of the county’s women regretted not making more of their education.
Marie Staunton, Plan UK’s chief executive, said people often forget how lucky they are in the UK.
“We take it as a given that we will go to school and receive a full education,” she said.
“In the developing world, girls in particular, are not this lucky.”
Further findings have also revealed that people in Kent believe their schooling has a direct link to how they are valued in society.
More than half stated that it is the key to earning respect.
Ms Staunton said: “Almost three quarters of women wish they’d taken advantage of what the British education system has to offer.
“Our research didn’t specify whether they would have earned more money had they made more of their education, but I think we can safely say that a good education will more often than not lead to a better work income.”
She added that 89 per cent of people living in the county believe a good education will lead to a happier life.
The Girls Without Voices campaign, which is part of a wider campaign called Because I’m a Girl – an eight year programme aiming to transform the lives of the world’s poorest girls – is vital, according to Plan UK.
Ms Staunton said: “Young women and girls make up almost a quarter of the world's population.
“They have the same rights as their brothers. Yet too often they remain at the bottom of the social ladder.
“They are usually the first to be pulled out of school as families cannot afford books, uniforms and other costs.
“If we continue to ignore these issues, these young girls will be resigned to a life of domestic servitude – so continuing a cycle of poverty as they become less likely to send their own children to school.”
Singer Beverley Knight is backing the campaign.
She said: “As a nation, we need to sit up and take notice of the challenge and discrimination girls face in the developing world.
“As a Plan UK sponsor myself, I urge people to support Plan’s fight for a girl’s right to an education, just as hard as someone once fought for ours.”
The charity is calling for people in the county to help support the Girls Without Voices campaign by visiting www.girlswithoutvoices.org.
POSTED: 28/11/2009 15:00:00
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