Educating Girls ~ Worldwide

Education as a Path to Freedom

I believe many Americans have taken education for granted, especially women. In many parts of the world, for example Pakastan and parts of Africa, girls are unable to attend school. For many girls worldwide, education is not an option. In fact, many young girls are sold off into marriage and used for reproducing, child rearing, and homemaking. Without economic independence this leaves girls, women, and families at a large disadvantage of ever being able to be self-sufficient.

If women are unable to be self-sufficient don't they also risk the ability to make their own choices and live self directed lives that are liberated from the patriarchal society most women live in today?

Women Heroes

Luckily, many brave young women like Malala are working to pave the way to liberating women byway of education through risking their own lives. Even in America we are far from paving the way towards equality for women all the way from the classroom to the workplace. According to the most recent Census Bureau data women make approximately 78 cents to every dollar a man makes. Alongside these shocking numbers of inequality in pay is the reality that more and more women are raising children alone on one income. Furthermore, there are also many intersecting identities on top of gender (i.e. race, ethnicity, sexual orientation...) that also affect women and how they may chose to navigate the work place in order to be perceived as successful working mothers.

Sadly, many of these family dynamics are societally orchestrated gender stereotypes of women and men.

Here are a few:

• women should be seen NOT heard
• women make better helpers than leaders
• women are better at careers in healthcare/nurses rather than doctors
• women should be kind, gentle, and soft spoken NOT loud and assertive
• women should do the bulk of chores, house keeping, and cooking NOT the man of the house...

Raising a Girl

As a mother of a daughter many questions arise from this information...

• in America what is the best way/ways to raise a strong independent woman who respects men?
• what ways can our family infuse STEM in our home for BOTH our son AND our daughter?
• what are the best ways to harness assertive leadership styles in girls?
• how can our family engage our son with assisting his sister with traditionally female roles, like cooking and laundry and vise versa?

and the truth is I don't even know where to begin aside from leading through my own actions and choices. What would you do?