When Tony Blair came into office, it wasn’t just him making history – it was his spouse, too. Because Cherie was the first Prime Minister’s wife to have a university education.
Cherie Blair was the first Prime Minister’s wife to have a university education
To her, that fact speaks volumes about the female education, and it has inspired her to campaign for girls all over the world to have better opportunities.
“We still have a situation where two thirds of the illiterate people in the world are women,” Blair told an assembled crowd. “We still have a situation where girls are deliberately not sent to school.
“I think there’s a real emergency situation in girls’ education - and we ignore it at our peril. We have to do more.”
The human rights lawyer, 60, made her comments last night at an Asian University for Women (for which she is a chancellor) event, held in central London.
She said that it was more important for girls to be educated than boys, even though that “saddened” her.
“As a mother of four children, three boys and one girl, it saddens me almost to say it’s actually a better investment to invest in a girl’s education,” said Blair.
“Why is that? It’s because of intergenerational impact. An educated mother will more likely make sure her own children aren’t just educated - but better educated than she is. An educated mother understands the needs of proper healthcare for her children.
"What also happens, of course, is that educated mothers tend to have fewer children. An educated woman, particularly one who puts her education to use outside her home, is more likely to contribute to the wider community, and become a leader.”
It's the child brides problem
The Asian University for Women, based in Bangladesh, aims to help women do just that, by offering education to those who would typically be unable to afford tuition feeds.
Blair explained that in many parts of Asia, and across the world, parents are still reluctant to educate their daughters. Some prefer to allocate their resources to boys, while others do not believe that a woman’s role requires education at all.
“It’s the problem of child brides,” she said. “As they get to puberty, parents want them to get married.
“Even 16 I would say is too young. 12 or 14 is too young physically as well. They’re likely to end up in drudgery, with lots of children. 18 is also a very marriageable age in many cultures.”
She drew upon her own experience - growing up in a working class home in Liverpool - to illustrate how these mindsets need to be changed.
“My mother left school at 14, as did my grandmother. There’s no question anyone thought they were university material,” said Blair.
'I was lucky to be educated'
“But because of education, I had amazing opportunities available to me. When people say to me 'you have done quite well', I always think - 'how well could my mother and grandmother have done had they had my opportunities'?
“We don’t want to make that mistake with future generations.”
Change is happening slowly across the world, with girls’ education being brought to the forefront of global discussions. Schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban after campaigning for girls’ rights to education, received the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year.
Blair joked about the prize: “It’s possibly a bit better than the EU, which got it one year,” but stressed: “She’s not the only young woman who’s faced these obstacles in education."
She ended with a message to all women across the world: "So often younger women – and older woman – are told what they should be. But, actually, in the end you have to be yourself.
"Whatever kind of leader you are, don’t be ashamed of it. Be authentic."
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