What Is Social Justice?

An article by the Center of Economic and Social Justice defines the concept of social justice as “the virtue which guides us in creating those organized human interactions we call institutions” and “imposes on each of us a personal responsibility to work with others, at whatever level of the “Common Good” in which we participate, to design and continually perfect our institutions as tools for personal and social development” (Center of Economic and Social Justice). Despite this widely believed concept, women in many third world countries currently suffer severe disadvantages and exclusion in the education systems. Depriving women of a quality education seriously violates the view of social justice which states that society has an obligation
In 2013, around 31 million girls of primary school age and 32 million girls of lower secondary school age were not attending school or receiving any form of education (“Empowering Women”). Millions of girls around the world constantly suffer from unjust discrimination due to poverty, pregnancy, school-based violence, child marriage and discriminatory gender norms which deem them unable and unauthorized to receive a quality education (Unicef). Many studies show that educated women are less likely to marry against their will at a young age, less likely to die in childbirth, more likely to have healthy babies, and are more likely to send their children to school (Unicef). In 1995, the Fourth World Conference on Women recognized that women's literacy is key to authorizing women's contribution to decision making in society and cultivating the well-being of families (“Empowering Women”). In countries in the Middle East and Africa, it is the law for women to gain consent from a male relative before completing tasks such as seeking employment, requesting a loan, or starting a business (“Empowering Women”). This results in the tendency of families to make a son’s education a priority (“Empowering Women”). Why must society
Providing all women with a quality education assists in not only directly contributing to the growth of national income but also ending the cycle of poverty which restricts women from receiving an education in the first place (Unicef). In the worldwide economy, countries with gender gaps in educational attainment and overall high degrees of illiteracy often become less competitive as foreign investors desire labor that is both skilled and inexpensive (“Empowering Women”). The economies’ growing rank of enterprises and export orientation provides many employment opportunities for women, however, many women are not provided with the proper training and education necessary to gain these prospects. Just as a growing flower wilts and deteriorates when it doesn’t receive the water and sunlight essential for it’s life, society crumbles and is unable to develop when women are powerless to assist in it’s advancement. When all children are provided with access to a quality education engrained in human rights and gender equality, it generates a ripple effect of opportunity that impacts generations to come (Unicef). God himself set a body of fixed moral principals regarded as the basis for all human conduct in discerning what is right and wrong. Depriving women of a basic, fundamental human right