Bangladesh Priorities: Girls Education, Zaman

Early marriage is far from the only challenge Bangladeshi girls and women face. New research by Ahsan Zaman, an assistant economics professor at North South University, examines two other pressing gender issues: access to education and family planning.

Educational access for girls is important, because more education means higher productivity and earnings over their own working lives. But it also turns out to be crucial for the eventual health of their children. A higher level of education improves a mother’s health awareness.

Research shows that this leads to better nutrition status for her children—and malnutrition is one of the factors that influences child disease and mortality the most. Each taka spent to get girls more education does 3 takas of social good, thanks to improved child health and increased income from higher earnings.