better health care and education for their children, should they choose to become mothers. All these factors combined can help lift households, communities, and nations out of poverty. . (7) In 2015, all United Nations Member States, including the United States, adopted quality education, including access to higher education, and gender equality as sustainable development goals to be attained by 2030. One of the education goal targets is to ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university . (8) In January 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stated, We will open the doors of education to all citizens, but especially to girls and women … We are doing all of these things because we have seen that when women and girls have the tools to stay healthy and the opportunity to contribute to their families well-being, they flourish and so do the people around them. (9) In February 2019, the White House launched the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative to advance women’s economic empowerment across the globe and reach more than 100,000 women. (10) The World Economic Forum ranks Pakistan the second lowest among all countries in the world evaluated for gender equality. On educational attainment for women, Pakistan is ranked the tenth lowest. (11) In Pakistan, the rate of higher education enrollment beyond high school for girls and women is just 9 percent as reported by the World Bank. The global rate is 40 percent. Less than 6 percent of women 25 and older in Pakistan attain a bachelor’s degree or equivalent as of 2016. (12) According to the World Bank, Higher education benefits both individuals and society. Economic returns for college graduates are the highest in the entire educational system—an average 17 percent increase in earnings per year of schooling as compared with 10 percent for primary school. . (13) The United States provides critical foreign assistance to Pakistan’s education sector to improve access