Across the world, 132 million girls are not enrolled in school and 743 million girls have seen a disruption in their education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Girls aged 10-19 are also more likely to be kept out of school and are more likely to drop out of school due to forced marriage, family pressures, or gender-based violence. So why focus on this? Well, studies have shown that for every year beyond fourth grade a girl completes, her wages increase twenty percent. This wage increase could result in girls and women increasing the global wage by about $15 trillion to $30 trillion.
I am writing as an ambassador for The Borgen Project and urge Rep. John Curtis and Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee to support the Keeping Girls in School Act. Doing so can increase equality for women and girls around the world and give them the opportunity to gain an education.
Delaney Maughan, Provo
