Education for women means empowerment to transform her life and her community. This project provides women who, due to economic impediment, have not been able to start or continue their high-school and undergraduate studies; and psycho-emotional therapy to support their process. By investing in women, the poverty cycle can be broken, increasing their economic participation, and making them less prone to violence and unplanned pregnancies.
Women's lack of access to education has effects in most areas of their lives. In average, the level of education in Mexico for women is 3 of secondary school and only 6% of women have a professional education (INEGI, 2015; World Bank 2007). Women's livelihood suffers due to this reality, coupled with the lack of emotional support and integration into the labour market, which perpetuates the violence and poverty in which they live, increasing their condition of gender vulnerability.
Education provides women with the tools to break the poverty cycle and enter the workforce; contributing towards gender equality. Cordem creates a better future for 100 active scholarship holders in Monterrey, Mexico who are enrolled in high-school or college. Along with their studies, they access a holistic development program that includes pshyco-emotional therapy, mentoring and professional skills workshops that increase their studies completion, employability and overall life chances.
We believe that Cordem has a catalytic impact on achieving gender equality and women's rights: girls' education; women's economic empowerment; peace and security; women's participation and leadership; and, the eradication of violence against women and girls. Investing in women is the surest way to address poverty, reduce inequalities and achieve lasting development results (OECD, 2015), educating women ensures 85% of their children will study (Coneval, 2010) which can break poverty cycles.
