However, in some regions where enrollment rates are very low for both girls and boys, merely raising girls' enrollments will not be sufficient. Efforts must be made to increase access to education for all. The data also mask important differences among countries and localities in retention rates, attendance, and school quality. In some of the poorest countries, fewer than half of young women receive a basic education, that is, at least seven years of school. 3 Many young women are becoming wives and mothers or are taking on household responsibilities rather than continuing their education.
Research also shows that women with more education have healthier children.
Recent progress has been promising. Between 1985 and 1995, access to education improved worldwide, particularly for girls and particularly at the secondary level. 4 Young women in less developed regions are now more educated than their mothers. For example, young women ages 15 to 19 in Morocco are four times more likely than their mothers to have completed seven years of schooling. In Sudan, this figure is nine times.