Yes, women education will be extremely important for development in general. Educating women meand educating the entire generation. None of the children of an educated mother can be uneducated and thsi opens up the vision.

The education of women is so important not only because of their population and property but also because of their untold effect on the next generation. A generation could be developed and be aware by helping women learn about certain problems we have in the world.

Well said Amir.

Hello Rao, thanks for bringing up this issue. Reading previous comments, it is obvious that we agree on the fact that women make changes in society and educating them in the topic of sustainability is a must due to the fact that more than 80% of the world's population lives in developing countries and a good portion of that number are women. It is also true that women living in developing countries are the pillars of their households and as such may have priorities more relevant (i.e. Providing food and shelter for their families) than caring for recycling, for example. However we have to take into consideration that sustainability encompasses a lot of different aspects (environmental, economics, health, energy, etc.) and for someone in specific, a small change in custom (not necessarily trending actions) could still contribute to the whole scheme of sustainability.

Being a women is not necessarily relevant in my argument but being a responsible parent is, teaching by example contributes significantly and holds even more than anything else in a child's life.

Thanks Ms Guadalupe Gonzalez: I agree with you 100%. Educating a woman educates the whole generations of people because of their influence in the society. Since they will be interacting with their children and their network more often, they are likely to have more influence.

.

Thanks Lijo for a beautiful quote. Here is another.

There is considerable evidence that women’s education and literacy tend to reduce the mortality rate of children. – Amartya Sen

You educate a man;

You educate a man.

You educate a woman;

You educate a generation. – Brigham Young

Great!, Prof. Nageswara!

Yes, certainly educating women in developing countries are most essential. Women in developing countries in Africa and Asia are responsible for food production (agriculture, livestock and fisheries), collection of water and bio-fuel (wood) and management of natural resources and taking care of children and elderly. Women farmer accounts for 45-80% percent of all food production in poor countries. Therefore, there is a need for education as well representation and engagement of women from a gender perspective in development and implementation of sustainable development.

Golam Kibria: That is true. As you correctly said in these countries women are responsible for a majority of food production, any help in bringing in the understanding of sustainability to them without affecting their livelihood would go a long way in helping them and the planet.

Thank you Nageswara Posinasetti

Excellent quote Shafig thanks for sharing.

Sure

Sure

I believe that 'women's education is the mother of all development.'

Sustainable development is not possible if there is no equity. In effect, it is a prerequisite of any measure aimed at improving the quality of life of people. This means that equality and gender equity are not only an aspect of fundamental human rights and social justice, but also essential and indispensable conditions of environmental conservation, sustainable development and human security.

There is evidence that women have a greater environmental awareness and

participate more than men in efforts to protect the environment.

Traditionally women have been discriminated in employment, the possession of land and access to education. This has been a limit to their active participation in functions of planning, decision making, leadership and management.

The key to sustainable development is education.

Rolando: Thanks for your very detailed response.

I believe that an educated woman, have educated children.

Highly educated women, parents and children educated.

Women too educated, childless.

Educated men and women, highly educated children.

Women and men highly educated, too educated children.

Educated women, educated children.

Highly educated women, parents and children educated.

Women too educated, childless.

Educated men and women, highly educated children.

Women and men highly educated, too educated children.

Women and men too educated, childless.

Thanks Federico and Haider for your support.

With all this, try to alert that too many educated people, away from the problems and everyday realities.

I think ideal for families better society, are those made ​​up of people with a social conscience.

I understand that people too educated, should have their grounding. Your family can provide it.

Thanks Federico. We have seen in India with the consumerism coming full swing for the last 20+ years, the family bonds are slowly snapping, which is not good for the welfare of the society and country.

Thank you for all the contributors. It is almost unanimous that all of us feel that educating women will greatly benefit the society and the planet. Can you suggest some measures that we can suggest to the administration in these countries to help improve the education opportunities? Thankyou!

Dear @Shafig, what a brilliant saying, thank you !

One who pulls the strings of a cradle, can take the world to great heights, is a saying which says all. An educated woman doesn't remain educated alone, she educates all around her. In that sense, she is a school in herself, as prof Shafiq pointed out !

Here is a good survey about sustainability challenges:

http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/2843WESS2013.pdf

Education is a fundamental human right, and as such is a key to sustainable development and peace and stability in each country and between nations, and therefore, an indispensable means to participate in social and economic systems of the XXI century.

We must ensure girls' full and equal access to basic education of good quality.

Here are documents from World Watch Organization on sustainability.

Worldwatch Report #183: Population, Climate Change, and Women’s Lives

http://www.worldwatch.org/system/files/183%20Population%20and%20climate.pdf

State of the World 2012: Moving Toward Sustainable Prosperity

http://www.worldwatch.org/stateoftheworld2012

Female education is considered a significant area of research within international development.More female education in means to correlate with high levels of development.

I do agree with Mahfuz Judeh and Kamal Bani-Hani that more female education in third world countries would be required since they are responsible for most of activities related to a family (if not all)

The Sustainable Development ask for more and more educated women!There is no vison of ESD without a women!

When a man and a women perform the same job in the same fashion they should get equal pay. When one or the other performs the job at a higher level, they should equally be rewarded and given more. However, this said, I don't think that every job that has been historically gender defined should become gender generic.

Figure from my previous answer about ESD vision comes from following web page!

http://www.opeduca.eu/ESD_Vision.html

The Women’s Enterprise for Sustainability (WES) program empowers women-led organizations in Tunisia to operate WES centers as social enterprises. Through these centers, aspiring and established women entrepreneurs gain new skills and networks, launch and expand businesses, and develop as innovative leaders in their communities.

http://www.iie.org/Programs/Womens-Enterprise-for-Sustainability

"Women make up more than a half of the total unemployed (54.7%) and, according to

the data provided by the National Employment Service (2006) they have a less

favorable qualification structure, and are employed in economically non-productive

sectors and generate lower income." Yes, greater education for women will enable sustainable development! Here is draft 2 of strategy for my country, 111 pages!

Dear Nageswara,

Women surviving is longer, their relationship to working is better than that of men. E.g. in some countries women did practically the whole agricultural activity. Unfortunately, because of retarded cultural traditions education of women is officially hampered. With the help of better education the performance of woman in sustainable development - mainly in agricultural areas – could be improved. Condition of better education is the necessity of more democratic society structure.

Here is a UNESCO report that provides methods to include women and girl children in improving digital opportunities for them.

"This Report summarizes the current situation with regards to differential access to the Internet, and sketches some of the potential implications of gender gaps in access to the Internet, based on the inputs and viewpoints of the Working Group on Broadband and Gender of the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission on Digital Development, chaired by UNDP. It is our hope that this Report makes a valuable contribution to the growing global conversation on this issue."

Providing quality education to women always helps in sustainable development. But if the quality of education is below standard its wastage of money and poverty increases in any nation.

Greater education and job opportunities for women will definitely bring revolution in development of any Nation, knowledge sphere when widens along with acquiring good skills will bring out success in all the fields and remove gender biasness at different platforms, it will lead to freeness and also best and optimum utilization of population / human resources of any country. Physical and Genetic make up being different may give newer thoughts being implemented in a better way.

mere education(which is an important parameter in determining the status of the women in the society) doesnot have much impact on their overall development unless they are acquired with property rights.