Educating Girls, Shifting Systems

Across Pakistan, where expectations about what girls can and cannot do still shape the course of their lives, Fajer Rabia Pasha is quietly opening doors for them to become confident leaders in their communities.

She has sat with mothers who believed their daughters should marry, not study. She has listened to girls who had never held a book in their hands. She has met fathers forced to pull their daughters out of school because they could not afford the fees. And at every turn, she has refused to accept that this is inevitable.

In 2013, she founded the Pakistan Alliance for Girls Education (PAGE), a civil society organization dedicated to expanding girls’ access to quality education. For more than a decade, her work has been guided by a clear conviction: when girls have access to education, skills, and meaningful support, entire systems begin to shift.

In communities where girls’ rights are limited, a woman leader is proof of possibility. It is representation. It is resilience. It is rewriting narratives.

That belief is grounded in the reality girls face across Pakistan. Poverty often pushes families to prioritize their sons’ education. Early marriage cuts childhoods short. Underfunded schools compromise the quality of learning. Concerns about safety and limited access to technology deepen existing inequalities. And underpinning it all is a patriarchal mindset that still questions whether girls should lead at all.

Even when girls are enrolled in school, they often lack mentors and a clear pathway toward jobs or leadership roles. Not many are able to stay in secondary schools, and the journey from education to real opportunities is far from guaranteed.

Fajer understands these realities not only as an advocate, but as a woman who has experienced what it means to be underestimated.

I have seen how easily girls’ potential can be dismissed. That fuels me. I want every girl to grow up knowing she does not need permission to lead.

Beyond expanding access to education, PAGE also advocates for policy change, provides healthcare services for women and girls, and helps young people build practical skills. At the heart of all this work is what Fajer believes matters most: earning and sustaining the trust of the community. And that, she believes, is where women-led organizations, deeply rooted in their communities, make the difference.

We are not outsiders to the struggle — we have lived it. We listen before acting. We design solutions that are culturally relevant. And we build trust with families, which is the key to keeping girls in school.

With support from the United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF), Fajer and her team opened 15 non-formal primary schools for Afghan girls living in some of the most deprived areas of Pakistan. Many of these girls had never set foot in a classroom before, so the schools were designed around their realities: flexible, accessible, and tailored to their specific needs.

But the work, as Fajer says, did not stop at getting girls through the door. Several of the schools were transformed into women’s economic empowerment hubs, built on a simple reality: a girl’s education is often closely tied to her mother’s independence. Hundreds of women joined literacy and numeracy classes, cultural integration programs, entrepreneurship and e-commerce trainings, and technical and vocational courses. They learned to produce and sell goods, earn an income, and gain the confidence that comes with financial stability.

The impact reached far beyond school walls. Women began to understand, often for the first time, the transformative power of educating their daughters, and all of them stood up to ensure they would not drop out or be forced into early marriage. Local authorities improved school facilities, and girls who were once at risk of exclusion are now mentoring younger students, stepping into leadership roles themselves.

We’re changing the mindset of entire communities, helping them see girls’ education not as a burden, but as an investment. That transformation is the real impact.

For Fajer, investing in women is never just a short-term fix — it’s a long-term commitment that shapes generations. When women thrive, families are more secure, communities grow more resilient, and systems start to shift. At the heart of that change, she believes, is women’s leadership.

Over the years, she has held onto the same vision: that every girl in Pakistan can access quality education, digital tools, and safety – and have the freedom to define her own future.

Educating girls is not charity — it is strategy. It is peacebuilding. It is economic policy. It is climate resilience. It is the foundation of stable societies.

Fajer Rabia Pasha during an event held on the sidelines of the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), held in March 2025 in New York. (Photo: WPHF/Bea Ciordia)