It’s fitting that our first day of classes fell on Women’s Equality Day.

Aug. 26 marked 93 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment. This day commemorates women achieving the right to vote, which took decades of activists coming together to enact change.

The right to vote goes hand in hand with education. If women were globally given the opportunity to pursue an equal education, there would be no sense in claiming they are incapable of making important decisions.

All people deserve the right to an education, regardless of whether they are male or female.

The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 is considered a starting point of the revolution to gain support for education and suffrage, and led to many rights for women in the United States today.

In colonial times, women were discouraged from attending school and could only go if there was enough room left for boys. In 1833, Oberlin College became the first college to accept women and African American students. In 2011, for the first time, more American women received bachelor’s degrees and advanced college degrees than men.

This is huge progress for the United States. However, there haven’t been as many strides globally.

Certain women are stepping up to lead the fight for equal education.

Malala Yousafzai is a 16-year-old Pakistani girl who wrote an anonymous blog for the BBC about her life under Taliban rule where, at times, girls were banned from attending school. She was also featured in a documentary from The New York Times about her life in which she gave interviews, expressing her views about promoting education for women.

Last October, Taliban gunmen shot her in the head and neck while she was returning home from school.

But she survived and continued to fight for her cause. Malala Day was created on July 12 —her birthday — when she spoke at a United Nations meeting to call for worldwide access to education.

Access to education is priceless and must be available to both men and women. It can lead to a greater quality of life through job opportunities and necessary skills like reading and writing.

Restricting education from women is an intolerable form of oppression because it restricts a choice and limits how far they can go in life.

Education should be a basic right, but due to worldwide power struggles, it has ended up as a privilege. Those who do have access to higher education, such as Syracuse University students, can help promote change.

College is the perfect time to learn about the world. Meet people from other parts of the country, or even the globe. Embrace SU’s diversity and learn about other cultures. Take some classes that focus on the world’s systems and how people benefit or suffer from them.

It’s easy to get trapped inside the campus bubble, but both incoming and returning students need to be aware that their education is not something to take for granted. Our education is the key to the rest of our lives – and the key to improving life for others.

Women’s Equality Day celebrates that women are able to participate in American politics as leaders, voters and volunteers. That right is just one step toward creating equality between men and women on all levels, but must be looked at on a global scale.

This anniversary is a sign that change can happen. It takes time, organization and demonstration, but it is achievable. The women before us fought for the equality and freedoms we celebrate today, and it’s our role to do the same for those who come after us.

The first step is to learn about the problems, then work to fix them.

Laura Cohen is a junior magazine journalism and women’s and gender studies major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at [email protected].

Published on August 28, 2013 at 1:36 am