Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.
George Washington Carver
Can you imagine being 11 years old and married? I married at the age of 25 and honestly looking back I know that was not old enough to handle the responsibility. An 11 year old girl…. really? Think it does not happen in this day and age? Think that I am exaggerating and this can NOT possibly be true?
Watch, learn and be moved.
Child marriage is the manifestation of a girl’s powerlessness. No girl under 18, but especially as young as 11 should be allowed to marry. Girls need national laws that will prevent child marriage and viable alternatives. I know the most powerful alternative to powerlessness for young girls.
Education.
So here is what we KNOW to be true- When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children. Education is the route to power. An educated girl is more likely to earn greater income, raise a smaller family, have healthier children, participate in political processes, and send her own children to school. An educated girl also is less likely to become infected with HIV.Investing in girls makes economic sense. When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 percent for a man. When you teach a woman to fish, even a young woman ,everybody eats.
There are millions of young girls all around the world just like Addis that cannot attend school and its heartbreaking when you think of all of that untapped energy and potential. A conservative estimate shows 75 million children who should be in primary school are not, and at least 55 percent of those – nearly 41 million children – are girls.
41 million girls who should be in school are not.
There are many reasons why girls do not attend school:
- Families in developing countries often rely on their daughters to be caregivers, homemakers and laborers. When an 8 year old is needed to bring in income then her learning to read becomes a luxury.
- Girls may not be safe or secure at school, and families fear for their welfare.
- Poor families struggle to prioritize their meager resources to pay for books, uniforms, supplies and school fees.
- Civil conflicts, natural disasters and chronic diseases like HIV & AIDS force families to shift their focus from learning to more urgent, basic needs like food and shelter.
- Young mothers stay home and care for their children instead of going to school.
Source: Center for Global Development
This is not a whim, something that happens by chance. Girls around the world face a systematic denial of their right to education. In addition to the loss of opportunity for each individual child, denying education to girls corresponds to lower family incomes, higher maternal and child mortality. Girls truly have the power to change the world, and girls’ education provides perhaps the single highest return on investment in the developing world.
Girls are strong and powerful.
I am not the only one who believes in the power of girls. This post is one of many happening today in honor of the bold and beautiful spirit which is birthed in every girl on earth. Go here to learn more about the campaign and read other post. http://wiselivingblog.com/the-girl-effect-blogging-campaign
Start with a girl and transform a community.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Desiree,
Trying to read the posts of all my fellow girl effect bloggers today! They’re all so different. I’m with you on stopping little girls from being married. Can’t imagine something that frightening happening to someone that young. I was attending summer camp – swimming, weaving baskets, singing around the campfire.
Education doesn’t even have to be expensive. That’s the ironic part. Teach one girl and she can teach the next girl and so on.
Giulietta
yes! i believe in the power of girls! to honor the powerful spirit of each one, we must act on their behalf by supporting all efforts to reach girls in poverty with the gift of education.
an education provides the foundation for reaching out into the world in positive ways. girls are brilliant, resilient, tough, strong and deserving of our help – imagine the joy we can create by educating girls! let’s do EVERYthing we can to make this happen.
thanks for this post, desiree.
Hello!
I totally respect your opinion, but you must consider that it is relative.
Today it doesnt matter if you have a female or male body. It is your mind which determines your feminity or masculinity.
Obviously you have a very masculine mind, that´s why you think women must go ahead, work and be the providers and protectors. While being the nurturers for body (food) and hearth (emotions) and expresing beauty is the feminine aspect of nature. Today many men are like this, not necesarily being homosexuals.
In that scope, you are right. But there is also the truth of many women that are feminine and men that are masculine, following my definitions, that -I repeat- are the natural way. Look at this: vegetals are the feminine aspect of nature, like they express beauty (flowers) and they nurture other beings (food). But there are some plants, like carnivorous ones, that are more “masculine”. And between animals, if you analyze for instance the two more friendly with men, the dog is the protector and the bull is the provider who puts his body to work for agriculture.
Now try to understand: your view is good, but doesn´t apply for ALL the humanity, just for some cases, for a part of us. The other part is the opposite, where women must marry at the very sign of menstruation, because women must always be protected: in childhood by parents, in young age by husband and in ancianity by sons. That is the way of many ancient cultures. Just try to understand, they have harmony between mind and body: feminine women and masculine men…
I hope this words serve you well, thank you for listening,
Nadie das (server of Nobody)
I found the comment above very interesting. It’s true that different cultures & peoples have different views of what a woman’s role is, and certainly there are women there who *do not want* to study, work, etc. There are women who want to stay at home, care for children, cook, be a wife, etc. We see this in Europe & US – there are many women who stay at home and love it!
However the goal is not to *force* people to do things like work or pursue a career but ENSURE that everyone has an equal choice and opportunity.
Women and girls should have the CHOICE to go to school, study, work. Women and girls should also have the CHOICE to stay at home, not study, have children, etc.
Women in poverty do not have the choice. Young girls at the age of 11 do not have the choice. We are working to expand choices and opportunity to all women and girls regardless of culture.
I recommend to all of you feminists, that you very respectfully read this article here:
http://thewip.net/contributors/2010/11/combating_berlusconis_vision_o.html
I dont even know the woman that writes, but I readed the article and it is clear, logical, coherent and has of course a point of view. I think this point of view you must attend to, in order to better your own insights of the things that you care for.
At your service and serving the planet Gaia,
Nadie das (server of Nobody)
Namaste, dear one. This is strong, vibrant, real, and beautiful, just like you.
Desiree – You have done a very beautiful thing here. Thank you. @marionchapsal, @GwynT and I (@bizshrink) have tweeted your post it & it has been retweeted wildly. YOU are making a difference. Here’s to the girls and the fish.
With tears of joy of sadness of hope of everything -
You have touched me and many others
In gratitude -
Anne Perschel
You write so clearly! You covered in one short post what it took me three to say… I applaud your clarity and share whole-heartedly with you in the stand you are taking for the rights of all girls everywhere to have the opportunity to live as they choose.
Thanks Desiree for the insightful approach towards looking at women. I truly agree with the fact that even in today’s advanced world, women are suppressed within the vicious circle of balancing between family and professional life and they are questioned on their efficiency in managing the two, if failed to do. Vineet Nayar, the CEO of HCLT, has likewise, through his book, “Employees First, Customers Second”, put across a question to the humanity in general, ‘Is this the organization that my daughter will want to work in?’
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