Learning To keep going

1/24/2020

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

11 Comments

Aliyah Sop

1/25/2020 12:28:16 pm

Hi Isha,
Thank you for sharing, I really enjoyed what you had to share and how the topics that we have learned in this module related to your personal experiences. Like yourself, I was raised in a household that had very similar rules and roles as yours. My mother and father had very traditional roles when it came to their responsibilities as parents. My mom took on the remaining role, and was a homemaker. Her “housewife” duties were the typical cooking, sweeping, vacuuming, washing dishes, doing laundry. preparing meals, cleaning bathrooms and kitchen, etc. Seeing these roles growing up, I found myself assuming these were the roles that needed to be taken on when I got older. I can attest that education really helps people learn different "roles" that women can play in many different aspects of life. Thank you again, Isha for sharing!

Erica Nguyen

1/25/2020 12:56:09 pm

Isha,
I appreciate how open you were with telling us about your personal experience with gender roles. Growing up, my grandparents were the people who said I should learn how to cook, clean and manage the house when I grow up. At first, I thought it was a joke since I lived with my parents and they equally share the household work or take turns doing things such as cooking. No one is assigned to a role in my house. The film also had a profound impact on me as well. It made me realize how "big" the world was because I started comparing my situation to the people in the film. It also made me realize how important it was to get an education, especially for girls. Education, not only benefits yourself, but also benefits the people around you. They can help the individual remain healthier and make better choices, but they are also pass the knowledge down through the generations as well.

Megan Pintok

1/25/2020 01:26:47 pm

Isha, I want to thank you for being so brave on sharing a little bit about your story growing up in a culture similar to the ones describes in "Girl Rising". It is inspiring to hear about your experiences and learn the difficulty you had to go through growing up in a strict environment. It was also shocking for me to learn about the amount of girls who are still being put second when it comes to obtaining an information. The societal norms of women being made for the wifely duties of cleaning, cooking, and being a mother would be enhanced if they obtained an education and I feel that it is essential that women voice themselves to the right of an education in order to be not only a successful and educated mother, but bring more to the world with their knowledge.

Haley Barton

1/25/2020 01:45:24 pm

I really appreciate you sharing your story with us. A lot of the time when we hear about woman who are being subjected to strict expectations or gender roles, we think of women far from us in a different country with different laws and cultures. This can make it hard to relate and empathize with those who experience this. Hearing from someone within our community who has had an experience with this brings this issue closer to home. I was lucky to have been born to a very open minded family and am always surprised to hear about those who have had such ridged expectations of them.

Allie Boyer

1/25/2020 02:37:25 pm

Hi Isha,
Thank you for sharing some of your personal experiences in relation to this topic. I am happy to hear that getting an education gave you the empowerment to take your life into your hands and decide what kind of future you want. It breaks my heart to think that there are millions of women around the world who don't have access or even an option to get an education. My grandparents also have the mindset that they are always right and we should follow the rules regardless. I am fortunate that we live in a society where education is encouraged to all genders. I hope one day we can provide education to everyone globally. Great response, thank you for sharing!

Gellila Solomon

1/25/2020 09:20:43 pm

Isha,

Similarly to you, I have also grew up in a household where women are in charge of the domestic activities. I would always be ask to go help my mom in the kitchen. This is an issue that women everywhere are trying to change, I have seen many movies where women come together to speak about changing the roles between men and women. It's a small start but I believe it can be socially accepted in the future.
With women wanting to go to school, I know that in some places they are against women going to school. Some women have been taking from their school or abused on their way to school as a way to discourage women from getting their education. It's great that these women know what they want and are fighting to change their future.

Malinda Phommachack

1/26/2020 09:28:27 pm

Hi Isha!

As I was reading your blog post, it had brought to my attention on how little I think about my life and upbringing versus someone else's whose living in another country or having lived in the states with parents who has migrated. I come from parents who migrated here to the states from Laos, hoping to earn a better life than the ones they had before, but as a female, I never experienced having to help with domestic activities. However, that didn't mean I didn't see my mom cooking most of the time and my dad doing more labor intensive actives. My parents had raised us (I have two older siblings) to do any activity we wanted; sports, help cook, etc.

With your blog post, I like how you mentioned the film you watched. It really is eye opening to see the life we have and how blessed we are to be able to get any education, where as other countries don't have this luxury. Taking a moment to realize that being able to just get an education and even earn higher levels of learning makes me appreciate school more. Seeing women from other countries wanting to gain knowledge is inspiring and makes me cherish being able to go to school worry free.

Nhi My Ly

1/26/2020 09:59:44 pm

Hi Isha, I also grew up in a household where women should learn how to cook, clean, and take care of their husbands. However, I do think my parents have gotten lenient over the years and become more open minded from living in America for so long. The documentary, Girl Rising, was also very intriguing and interesting for me to watch because I have read stories about these experiences, but it was a first time an image was provided for me to really see the circumstances. One thing that Murray pointed out that was shocking for me is that the reality of the high number of girls enrolled in school may not be what it seems. She said that even though the girls enrolled, not many of them actually stay AND they may get taught different subjects than boys! Moreover, they are told to clean the bathrooms and classrooms. Now I thought that was ridiculous. Girls and boys should have equal opportunities for success and our gender should not define us. This weeks readings and media was very provoking. Thank you for sharing your story!

Selena Sorn

1/27/2020 11:45:47 am

Hi Isha,
I also grew up in a household where women are expected to do household chores. Even today I still get told that I must do a good job cooking or cleaning or else "no man will ever like me." Hearing this would frustrate me and discourage me from doing household chores. It had me thinking about why would I have to cook and clean for someone to like me? There was also a time I heard a family member who was male talk about how it's not his job to clean the house because he is male. I was astonished after hearing his opinion because I don't agree to it. Women shouldn't have to be responsible for doing all household chores when men can do it too.

Lauren Toth

1/30/2020 07:27:42 pm

Hi Isha,
Thank you for sharing your personal thoughts and feelings in your post. I couldn't agree more with your wish that girls had the same opportunities boys are given, and while it's so amazing we have this big world with so many cultures, culture can also disrupt a society from evolving. It's amazing your mother has her education and you are pursuing yours! I wonder when there will be a time where all cultures value the importance of a female beyond her reproductive and domesticated duties, and encourage females to be successful the way men are. Thank you for sharing such a thought provoking post.

Raiye Abunie

3/7/2020 08:23:40 pm

Hello Isha, like you I grew up in a household where gender norms are heavily practiced and followed. Over the years however I felt as though for me things have suddenly shifted. Especially once independence and realization of cultural norms and values for my self was recognized. Men and women have both very distinguished gender roles. However, I can only wonder what society would be like if we were to accept which every "role" was defined or given to both genders instead of rather separately assigned if it was collaborated so both would contribute equally. Great post!

Learning To keep going

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