Girls’ educational journey is plotted to help businesses invest at right time

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The barriers to girls’ education have been mapped out in an innovative look at the educational journey of a female from birth to adulthood.

The graphic accompanies a report which aims to help businesses make the best decisions about investing in girls.

The report – published by the Global Business Coalition for Education today on International Day of the Girl Child – says companies have a strong focus on empowering girls in secondary education. But it urges them to make investments at a much earlier stage.

Examining the wider life cycle of a girl and investing sooner would have economic and societal benefits and help companies to support girls to become the leaders, consumers, employees, employers and innovators of the future.

See an interactive version of the Educational Journey of a Girl here.

The report – The Journey of a Girl: Opportunities for Business Investment in Girls’ Education – was commissioned by GBC-Education at the request of its corporate members on the Girls’ Education Task Force. Through their investments, members reach an estimated six million girls worldwide.

The report surveyed 32 companies investing in girls. It found that investment in early and primary years could be more transformative – building on foundations such as numeracy and literacy to shape more advanced skills later in life.

As the global community adopts the Sustainable Development Goals, the report puts forward several recommendations to help companies play a more involved and sustainable role in supporting girls and young women:

Sarah Brown, Executive Chair of GBC-Education, said: “We know all too well that the economic empowerment of a woman does not start when she is an adult. It starts when she is a girl.

“Education is critical for her success at work and across her family life and there is a compelling case for the private sector to consider how best to engage and make a difference.

“While we do congratulate the many corporates who are leading the way by investing in primary and secondary education, this report recommends the acceleration of corporate investments in a girl’s early years and a wider set of actions for the private sector to play its part in the global fabric that will unlock the political will and funding to deliver real change and reach every girl.”

Read the full report here.