I will say that I was raised in a really stricted culture where gender norms and roles are practiced strictly. So I was taught that to listen to my elders, that they are always right and should always follow the rules. Since I am a girl, I was taught at a young as a young girl how do household duties, cook, and I always get reminded that my role in this world to marry a good man and become a mother. Growing up in this strict environment, I was lucky enough to have a mother who is educated so I was able to attend school. I was able to start learning more about the world and how I can help myself in life without relying on a man to provide for me.
Watching Girl Rising brought up lots of memories from back home and the film really put things into perspective of what millions of girls go through all around the world. There are many issues and things that occurred in the film that I wasn’t surprised about; however I was really shocked with the amount of girls who are not getting their education and some struggling to stay in school. Watching the film, I was really inspired especially after watching Mariama’s story. Watching her going against societal norms even though people do not agree with what was doing was really powerful for me.
From all the readings and the film this week, I noticed that boys coming before girls to be one of the major themes, and I am just hurt about this. And I can’t believe with all the evidence presented of the benefits of educating girls, they are still being stopped to receive education which they have the right to. One of the readings that can support this theme will be “Childhood: The Hope of Education and the Persistence of Discrimination, especially the claim author Ann Murray made about the different reasons keeping girls from school or being enrolled in schools in the first. Female genital mutilation is one of these reason and something I can relate to personally. I also really like the quote, “Literacy as the key to women’s full participation in societal decision-making and to improving the well being of families” mentioned in the Conference in China (Murray 2008). This quote says a lot about the importance of education, educating girls including myself will not just benefit them but also the communities around us.
Sources:
Murray, A. 2008. “Childhood: The Hope of Education and the Persistence of Education”. Outage to Courage: Women Taking Action for Health and Justice.
Girl Rising. Retrieve January 22, 2020 from:
https://washington.kanopy.com/video/girl-rising
BY: Isha .B