One of the most popular, acclaimed and inspiring American films of the last few months has been Hidden Figures, the true story of three African American women whose exceptional mathematical and engineering skills were essential to the development of the US space program.



The movie shows how they struggled to overcome the pervasively held, unenlightened assumptions of early 1960s America: that neither women nor African Americans – let alone African American women – had a place in the brainy world of rocket science. Ultimately (spoiler alert, though this will hardly surprise anyone), the superior intellects of the film’s three protagonists led to huge breakthroughs.

As we observe International Women’s Day, it’s worth reflecting on at least two big lessons from Hidden Figures.

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First, while each of the film’s heroines possessed extraordinary intellects (one was so gifted at math that she enrolled in college in her early teens), they could not have gone anywhere without education. Indeed, the film shows how each fought for schooling typically beyond the reach of African America women of their generation.

Second, when we fail to educate all girls and women, the world loses out. The film tells us, for example, that launching the first American into orbit may not have happened (or maybe not as soon) if one of the featured women had not come up with pioneering, complex calculations that eluded her white male co-workers. That moment arguably helped accelerated US progress in its “space race” against the Soviets and led to many later advances.

Considering that approximately 130 million girls worldwide are not attending primary through upper-secondary school and that women represent nearly two-thirds of the world’s illiterate, we must ask: how many other innovations and inventions – great and small – have been lost to the world because so many minds are idle on the sidelines of human progress?

Rumana, a 26-year-old Sudanese mother, asked herself a similar question. Having never been to school as a child herself, she was frustrated that she could not offer her children help with their homework.

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She decided, along with her friend Madga, to start taking lessons at home to learn what she never had as a kid. Eventually both enrolled in a local third-grade class. Soon, Rumana and Madga started a small ice-cream business, giving them a small income. Now in seventh grade, their small business is going, they continue school and are able to support their children’s learning more actively.

Based on what we know about the power of educating girls and women, Rumana and Magda are shortening the odds that they can pull themselves and their families out of desperate poverty and live relatively healthy lives. Their personal gains, together with those of growing numbers of other educated women, reverberate across communities, countries, regions and continents and can truly change the world.

Also, as more girls get basic schooling, larger numbers will move up the educational ladder, some to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics. That’s important because workplaces around the world, especially in many developing and emerging market countries, are becoming more automated, favouring workers with technical skills. Their success in the workplace will, in turn, strengthen their countries’ economies and create more and better opportunities for businesses.

But, even though the disparity between the number of girls and boys in primary and secondary school has narrowed significantly in many countries, girls’ enrolment and performance in science and math programs still fall far behind boys’.

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To reverse that trend we need, at many levels, gender-responsive interventions, like those the Global Partnership for Education has supported in developing countries for 15 years. Not just for the girls themselves, who stand to realise their full potential of their otherwise hidden gifts, but also for the world, which profits greatly from investments in girls’ education.

Where is the next generation of “Hidden Figures”, and what will they accomplish? We will have our answer only if we invest more in strengthening education around the world.