Education is one of the most critical areas of empowerment for women. Offering girls basic education is one sure way of giving them much greater power of enabling them to make genuine choices over the kinds of lives they wish to lead. This is not a luxury. An educated woman has the skills, information and self confidence that she needs to be a better parent, worker and citizen. An educated woman will also be more productive at work and better paid indeed, the dividend for educational investment is often higher for women than men.