Locked Out of Learning: Legal Barriers to Girls' Education and Its Impact on Inclusive Economic Growth in Developing Countries

ABSTRACT With an emphasis on Tanzania, this essay explores the legislative and policy barriers to girls' education and their broader implications for inclusive economic growth and poverty alleviation in emerging nations. The paper examines how Tanzania's path toward sustainable development is hindered by high fertility rates and rapid population growth that outpace economic development (factors that primarily result from girls' and women's limited access to quality education), drawing on a recent World Bank analysis of the country's demographic issues. Based on the existing theoretical and empirical studies, women's and girls' education is crucial for promoting fertility and demographic shifts, which are vital to economic growth and resilience. Although ensuring girls' protection, including their right to education, is a universal legal framework, it becomes meaningful only when national and international laws and policies are consistent in defining “a child” within these frameworks. Inconsistencies in the definition of the term implicitly perpetuate problems such as early marriages that eventually restrict their educational access and prolong poverty. To achieve Tanzania's demographic and economic objectives, this paper argues in favor of a unified legislative framework that clarifies the definition of “a child” at both national and international levels and supports girls' rights to education. To create the conditions for a significant demographic shift and inclusive growth, the essay ends by suggesting policy changes to address early marriage, enhance educational access, and standardize definitions across legislation.