Today marks the first International Day of the Girl (IDG). Thursday was chosen because of its memorable date 10/11/12. I like the idea that it seems to emphasize the idea of counting, a skill learned through education and that is what this day stresses. IDG is about educating girls worldwide so that they can be given all the same opportunities as boys and men.
This is a problem in the U.S. and in developing countries; there are various levels of discrimination in society towards women in regards to education and more. As a whole, women make up fifty one percent of the world. Why would we decide to discriminate against the majority?
This is a question organizations such as 10×10, Girlafesto, and Pratham ask. They specifically want “to speak against gender bias and advocate for girls’ rights everywhere.” Education is an area where they want to break down this oppression. International Day of the Girl also combats issues such as sex trafficking and injustices of gender bias.
Theoretically, if we were to educate all the women in the world from an economic stand point, that would create more jobs in fields that required a high level of education and these jobs often pay more. In turn, wouldn’t the global economy flourish from the education of girls worldwide?
These ideas were all starting to form in my head before it was even October. From the start of this high school course on feminism, we were engaged in these ideas of equality for women as we looked at stories from girls in other countries and had speakers come in. We looked at what it means to be a girl through readings by Cherríe Moraga, such as “A Long Line of Venidas” and “La Güerra.” We also learned about the gender stereotypes and expectations of being a girl in the U.S. through the lens of our female classmates.
It was appalling and heart-wrenching to hear the common motifs repeated in the stories that were also echoed in the writing from writers such as Moraga and bell hooks. The messages they received from their family, community, peers, society, or ethnicity about being a girl reflected this idea of silence.
My classmate Josey wrote that sexism in our culture prohibits women to “talk about anything controversial” and are taught that opinions should be kept to themselves. Other girls said things like “don’t be a rebel,” and shared that there was an expected moral and even dress code for girls. They can’t dress or do certain things because it might make them look like a “slut” or “skank.” In other words they have to go through life with their voices limited and unheard and have their personality masked to fit the standard and to avoid controversy.
This was something I had dreamed about changing long before I had heard of International Day of the Girl. In fact, when asked why I had signed up for the class I said that I joined because sexism in America is said to be dead and I knew it wasn’t and I wanted to find a way to truly purge it from society.
In the past I thought, I’m just a boy. What do I know? How could I possibly help?
Me giving statistics about education during the IDG assembly
This is something I want to answer during this course. If I can find a way to relate, I figure it will help solidify my desire to help as well as give me a more specific route to take then what the vague term “activism” implies.
In this course, I’ve been introduced to the theory of intersectionality. From writers like Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz and Audre Lorde I learned that “there is no hierarchy of oppressions” as Lorde writes in one of her pieces. Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz experienced privilege as she told her own story of being mixed culturally and racially due to being born Arab and Jewish. She herself faced oppression from her own family who dejected her Arab half and she was oppressed as a woman. She writes about how her light skin allowed her to pass as a white woman, and it also gave her privileges that weren’t given to people who weren’t her skin tone.
Audre Lorde along with bell hooks show there isn’t just one level of oppression and argue that no oppression is truly better than the other. To start her essay, African-American feminist Lorde says, “Within the lesbian community I am Black and within the Black community I am a lesbian. Any attack against Black people is a lesbian and gay issue … because I and thousands of other Black women are part of the lesbian community.”
She explains that because she is a black lesbian any black issue is now an issue for lesbians and any lesbian issue is now an issue for black women. This example demonstrates the idea of intersectionality; in other words intersectionality is based off of race, class, gender, sexuality, age, ethnicity/race, national origin, religion, etc. Intersectionality has helped me to feel connected to IDG and has empowered me to help.
With this new knowledge, I want to spread it to the school to let them know everyone can and should celebrate IDG and raise awareness of equality for girls.
Me giving an explanation of Intersectionality. Photo credits Laura Hahn
That was what I took away from the assembly that we led, and I feel it served its purpose well. Everyone managed to get this point across of why this is so important. I think videos like the Girl Effect video and the 10×10 Educate Girls Make a Change video helped do this as well.
I was able to find my importance on this matter and was empowered to make a change despite not having a direct connection through gender and then pass on the drive to make a change to my high school peers.
