Benefits and Potential Issues in Women receiving University Education

By: Palvir Kaur

Today more girls than ever go to school. However, despite progress,

women continue to face multiple barriers based on many grounds.
Predominantly, in the equal enjoyment of the right to quality and higher
education. Empowering women to receive university education should be
one of the major focuses of 2025 insight. Assuming that women receiving
university education is actually delegated, there are multiple benefits
gained from this topic.
First and foremost, when women receive higher education such as
university education, they benefit in providing better communities. An
educated woman with increased earning potential is more likely to give
back to the community than her male counterparts. Several renowned
professors proclaim that many female-dominated careers report high rates
of “job meaning”, claiming career satisfaction was more important than
salary. The top response for women was “public service leader” while for
men the top response was “CEO”. As said, highly educated women tend to
value compassion, empathy and community engagement more than men.
Moreover, women also benefit in decreased chance of women abuse
by delaying marriage and child bearing. University educated women are
much less likely to suffer domestic abuse than their illiterate counterparts.
In more traditional developing households, women are viewed as
commodities existing in the home and for the home, only to leave when
married off to a new household. Investing in women’s’ education delays
early marriage and parenthood; if every girl in Asia completed secondary
education, child marriage would fall by 64 percent. Not only can that, by
receiving high education there also be change the mind-set of future
mothers. This can produce drastic changes in the decreasing of child
marriage.
 Additionally, when women receive university education, they
indirectly promoting social inclusion. As women are frequently kept
indoors to continue doing various chores, they tend to teach and show the
same experience to their daughters. The seclusion from the public sphere
only worsens as girls reach adolescence, as they are discouraged from
pursuing activities outside the home. This social isolation of girls leads to
higher levels of depression in women as well as other mental health issues.
Not only seeking university education but secondary education also
encourages women to develop a professional life within the public sphere,
allowing them to become part of the community and develop their own
identities away from the home.
However, there many potential issues in women receiving university
education. For instance, gender stereotypes and gender stereotyping are the
cause of the many obstacles faced by women worldwide. This prevents
them from enjoying their personal right to receive university education.
Ideally, education systems nowadays are the focal points of gender
stereotypes but in some cases schools and teachers also play a major
role. Gender stereotyping is considered wrongful when it results in a
violation or violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Harmful gender stereotypes and wrongful gender stereotyping can affect
girls before they step into a classroom and may even prevent girls from
going to school. For example, stereotypical views that girls are
homemakers and caregivers may lead families to question the point of
sending their daughters to school if they are to become wives and mothers,
whilst the stereotype that men should be breadwinners means that boys are
prioritised when it comes to education.
Likewise, lack of inclusive learning environment and an inadequate
learning environment also stand out as potential issues in women receiving
university education. This occurs when there’s a bad school environment
which can deter girls from attending school and also negatively impact on
the quality of education girls receive. The school environment refers not
just to the physical infrastructure of the school premises but also the wider
learning environment. In some countries, the highest education for women
are only up to secondary schools and no signs of colleges or universities.
Consequently, discourages female students to pursue their dreams. Thus,
the right to a quality education for women is eliminated.
 Lastly, poverty is also one of the potential issues in women receiving
university education. Poverty seems to be the biggest factor determining
whether or not women receive university education. A number of factors
contribute to girls from poor families not being able to attend school, the
biggest of which is the lack of free education, particularly in the formative
years. This may be because governments do not have legal and policy
frameworks in place to make free education a reality or they do but it is
not effectively implemented, or it may not be adequately resourced, or
there may be corruption which draws resources away from their intended
use. Lack of free education results in an added financial burden on
families, which may come in the form of school fees or indirect fees such
as for school uniforms, school transportation, etc. Such fees are a direct
barrier to school attendance for many girls, either because families cannot
afford these costs.
To Sum up, women should also be able to receive high education as
equal with the men. They have full potential to receive university
education and these potential issues should be overcome as soon as
possible to fully apply gender equality customs. This should also apply to
Malaysian parents who disable their daughters to complete their education.