Did you know that 77.6 million girls around the world are not enrolled in school? Education brings hope and is a proven path for a better future. Yet despite this certainty that education is essential, girls and women around the world today are routinely denied access to a basic education. Sometimes this is due to cultural traditions and values; at other times it’s the result of difficult practical tradeoffs made around basic needs. When you educate a girl, however, you can break cycles of poverty in just one generation. For instance, when 10 percent more girls go to school, a country’s GDP increases on average by three percent. Also, children born to educated mothers are twice as likely to survive past the age of five.