There were several reasons why Lincoln feared about his reelection in 1864. Firstly no Presidents since Andrew Jackson before him had won the election for the second term in office. Secondly Lincoln knew that his embracing of emancipation did not go down well with the voters of the North. These were the reasons for his fears.
That is because in many societies worldwide, families still don't want to send girls to schools because they don't think that it's a place where girls should go. Governments try to fight this with various incentives but often the cultural tradition is stronger than these incentives and this creates a society not based on equality. This is relatively common in underdeveloped countries.
