The New York Times: World Leaders Propose Global Education and Financial Programs to Expand Women’s Education

World Leaders Propose Global Education and Financial Programs to Expand Women’s Education

One year after the 2021 UNCSW conference where leaders committed $40 billion to improving gender equality, world leaders reconvene to face the lasting impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on women’s freedoms.

By Elena Higuchi

Published March 5, 2022




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The Covid-19 pandemic had extreme short-term and long-term impacts across the world which disproportionately affected women and children. During the 2021 UNCSW conference, world leaders reconvended for the first time since the 1995 Beijing Conference for Women, and committed $40 billion to advancing gender equality.

This weekend, global leaders met again at the 2022 BMUN UNCSW Conference to focus on “restoring and and improving girl’s education during post-covid-recovery”, according to Head Chair Rajita Pujare.






Hilary Clinton at the 1995 Beijing Conference for Women Doug Mills/Associated Press




World leaders worked together in a multitude of groups to create diverse solutions to combat the damages done to women’s rights during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Pre-existing women’s issues, such as child marriage, gender based violence, and early pregnancy were exacerbated, further challenging women’s rights to education.

The Malala Fund estimated that 20 million girls could drop out of school by the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. These alarming figures are a great cause of concern for world leaders, since girls being taken out of schooling often leads to becoming the sole breadwinners for their family,

early marriage, and/or early pregnancy.

“Our plan, titled as P.L.A.N.S. for SUCCESS is more holistic than some of the other groups. But, in regards to education, we plan to do both hybrid and in person learning because we understand that girls being stuck in their homes leads to an increase of child marriage, abuse, and neglect. Also, girls are forced to do more unpaid labor, such as taking care of their siblings,” said the Delegate of the United States of America.


Sponsors and signatories to the P.L.A.N.S. for SUCCESS bloc demonstrated great concern and diverse solutions for the rise of child marriages in under-developed countries, one issue which worsened during the pandemic.

During a speech on ending child marriages, China stated, “Many policies to end child marriages have been passed and put into effect. The delegation of China believes that we must use education to reduce stigma and uproot the societal systems which all0w and support the continuation of child marriages. We would be willing to support underdeveloped nations, even though we are a developing nation ourselves.”

Panama emphasized the need to illegalize child marriage in underdeveloped nations and create safe access to education.

Mexico argued that only reopening schools wouldn’t help and that it would be necessary to incentivise girls to go to school.

The United Kingdom proposed solutions that included the creation of new schools to increase the education capacity for girls.



The United States had heavy involvement in the creation of the P.L.A.N.S. for SUCCESS, which focuses on establishing a Women and Girl’s

Education Fund to pool money for combatting women’s problems, encouraging countries to create educational programs that educate youth about violence against women, creating social media campaigns to uproot the institutional causes of violence, expanding access to education, and providing greater health resources for women.

The 2022 UNCSW conference has resulted in significant progress and additions to the efforts made by world leaders in the past. The 1995 Beijing Conference for Women played an important role in bringing awareness to women’s global issues. The 2021 UNCSW Conference created initiatives that increased the funding towards combating these problems. The 2022 UNCSW conference addressed the significant issues created by the COVID-19 pandemic, and ensured that the current global agenda stays in touch with current global problems.

Elena Higuchi is a journalist covering politics and culture. She covers political action for women’s rights.