Let me begin with an old African Proverb “ if you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if educate a woman, you educate a whole family. From our nursery days to my university days we heard this proverb repeatedly from our teachers in our classrooms. As a girl listen this proverb from our teachers would fill our heart with joy and happiness. I grew up with a passion and dream like thousands of other girls to pursue my carrer in academia. This proverb would solace and comfort me because of an impression that education of girls was valued and appreciated.

But today as i look around and observe things minutely all i am seeing is that women are missing from the forefront of educational enterprise and other sphers of life. Not only is our passion of pursuing a career in academia discouraged but similtaneously our dreams are made fun of! Our role remains confined within the four walls of our homes in general to kitchens in particular. In a patriarchal and male dominated society not only is our own agency of exercising our choice snatched from us but also our identity is reduced to mere sexual beings born to fulfill the desires of men.
The education of a boy is still preferred over the education of a girl. The ambition of a boy to pursue a career in academia becomes a dream for whole family, while the same dream of a girl is allowed to die a natural death. From inheritance rights to educational rights and from our presence in public space to our choice of marrying a boy of our choice( according to Quranic injection) we r denied each and every right which otherwise we are entitled to enjoy. A prophetic saying mentioned and quoted often from the pulpits of mosque mentioned in all most all of hadith books is “ The best gift from a father to his child is education”. Now lets pause for a minute and ask ourselves do we provide this gift to a girl child? Our actions as Muslims not only give lie to our words but also a great disservice to Islam as well.since 7th century A.D women have proved their worth at every level. From politicions to scientists, from thinkers to public intellectuals, from war warriors in battlefields to being at the forefront of intellectual revolutions women have proved their intellectual acumen. The first university in the world was built by Fatima Al Fihri who was a women. Muslim women in general and women in particular have made a huge contribution not only to the world of Science, Social Sciences, humanities but also to the world of politics.
In Science we have examples of Aisha Elsafty,Madam Curie and Maryam Mirzakani ( the only Muslim women to win a fields medal in Mathematics), in literature we have examples of Arundhati Roy and Margeet Atwood and in politics we have examples of Benazar Bhutoo and Angela Merkel. Despite these figures our representation is not only dwindling in STEM( Science Technology Engineering and Mathmathics) but also in other disciplines like Humanities and Social Sciences .
As against 465 male MP’S we have only 78 women MP’S in Lok Sabha despite women making half of the Indian population. The repetition of women in Indian bureaucracy or at our own state level is abysmally low. The birth of a girl child is still abhorred in our society as against the birth of a male child.
Now coming to the statistics it can be seen that improving girl’s educational level over the years and decades have clearly made huge impacts on the health and economic future of young women, which in turn have significantly improved not only the prospects in their individual life or thir family but of societies and communities in particular and nations in general. Education also play’s a vital and a crucial role in creating, reproductive, social, political, social and health aware among women. Education also goes a long way in curbing the menace of population growth and leads to faster development as is evident in western countries. So Let’ allow women to reclaim their space and identity for their progress, empowerment and their own emancipation through the tool of education.

Email:--------------faiqasajad823@gmail.com