UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (2000) delivered a speech at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, stating that, of the 110 million children in the world who should be in school but are not, two-thirds are girls. The lack of equality is contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, in which governments committed to the right to a free education to everyone at the elementary level. For the worldwide female population, the denial of the right to a free education is a double blow. In their daily lives, girls are often denied the equal rights of men and women as proclaimed in the UN Charter, which means, for most of the world's women, a life of poverty. Today, as Ghana attempts to educate its female population, it is important to remember that just 50 years ago, as this nation struggled to make educational opportunities a reality for all children, American girls as well as Blacks and other minorities were also disenfranchised groups demanding educational opportunities. Since 1997, the Ministry of Education has an overall policy responsibility for the education of women, and the government of Ghana has demonstrated its commitment to girls' education by creating a high-level post: the minister of basic, secondary, and girl-child education. A minister has been responsible for implementing girl-child education policy in Ghana since 2001. This article explores the progression of educational opportunities for women in Ghana and the United States and the effect on their educational attainment and economic status. (Contains 1 figure.)