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REMARKS BY:	DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:		World Bank Award Reception, Washington, D.C.	
DATE:		March 4, 1999

I know that the need to shine the light of education on every girl is a deeply held belief of Jim and Elaine Wolfensohn and each of you. And it is a belief that is shared throughout this Administration.

Last December, I visited the American University in Beirut and spent the better part of a twenty minute speech talking about the critical need for all countries to give girls equal access to a quality education. I even noted with some pride that my father was an unusual Arab man for his time because he believed deeply in the education of women. He went so far as to urge his male friends to send their daughters to college.

But I also said this in my Lebanon remarks: "This is not an American woman pointing her finger at the world. In my own country, women are still not equal in the halls of learning - or in our economic institutions."

The fact is: educating girls is not an Arab problem, or an Asian problem, or an African problem or a Western problem - it is a worldwide problem that calls for a worldwide solution.

That was the point President Nelson Mandela was making when he said this about women in his last state of the nation address to the South African Parliament:

"Need we remind ourselves of the various forms of discrimination that still exist in the workplace, schools, and other social activity?"

As education ministers, UN leaders, and members of the staff of the World Bank and other international institutions, you have been tirelessly advocating educating girls. You certainly haven't needed reminding. Most recently your voices were heard first at the World Education Conference in Thailand in 1990. Then four years later in Beijing. And, of course, again tonight.

You have been the indispensable voices of truth - that in this era of rebirth and rebuilding, no nation can afford to squander the potential of even a single person, . . . male or female. Yet, that is exactly what we're doing.

The global gender gap in education persists. Nearly two-thirds of the illiterate people in the world are women. Of the 150 million children who lack access to primary school around the world, two-thirds are girls. In my own country, we don't have enough women in medical schools or engineering programs - or enough women from minority populations in college at all.

On the other hand, we know that women earn 10 to 20 percent more income for every year of education they receive. In the least developed countries of the world, every year of basic education for women translates into a 5 to 10 percent decline in infant mortality. We believe that nations are stronger, healthier - economically and even militarily - when we make equal education for women a national priority.

But we all have a long way to go. That's why in the U.S. we're strengthening Head Start - so all children, boys and girls --enter school with the basic skills they need to succeed. That's why the President is calling for smaller classrooms, newer schools and more teachers so that girls and boys are ready for college - and ready to compete in the global economy.

And that's why we started Girl Power! -- to give 9 to 14 year old girls the inner strength to avoid risky behaviors, stay in school, and achieve their full potential. But it's not just the Department of Health and Human Services.

Our Department of Education has created numerous mentoring programs to support young girls' college dreams. And Education Secretary Riley has named a Special Assistant for Gender Equity to give special attention to girls' education. Secretary Riley also joined in a consensus at the recent Hague International Forum on Education to support the elimination of discrimination in education.

Of course there are similar important - even revolutionary - efforts going on around the world. In Cote d'Ivoire, they've outlined a National plan to reduce the gender gap in their primary school enrollment. And in Guinea -- thanks to a nationwide effort to promote girls' education -- school enrollment for girls has increased about 16 percent -- per year -- over the past 8 years.

Still, let me be clear, governments cannot - and are not - closing the gender gap in education alone. The most important work is being done by individuals, . . . thinkers and leaders like Robert Prouty and Ma Chu Chang - both of whom we honor tonight.

Robert Prouty and Ma Chu Chang have dedicated years to extensive field work throughout Africa and Asia. Though their work led them to different places, they have both advanced the goal of educating girls.

Their success inspires us. It challenges us. But, even more, their success reminds us that whatever our nationality, we all share a stake in making a quality education a reality for every young girl.

Thank you.

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