Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook is quoted as
saying, “I want every little girl who is told she is bossy to be told
she has leadership skills!!”
The
fact that one of the most prominent business women in the United States
must assert this in the year 2013 is a testament to the influence of
society on inequality.
Certainly, access to basic education is not the major issue in the United States.
Public, private and even structured home educational programs are available to and required of all children.
So, Western society offers education to girls.
The question, however, is what do they actually learn?
Education begins with parents and early childhood education may also include child care and pre-school.
So before children begin their formal education, experience, culture and expectation have molded them, gender roles established.
Boys
are expected to be rough and tough, play with cars, and be noisy;
whereas, girls are expected to be nice and agreeable, play with dolls
and keep quiet.
If a child does not fit the mold through nature, nurture will steer him or her toward societal norms.
Based
on these norms, confidence and self-esteem is developed and pressure
toward norms has the potential to devastate a child, boy or girl, who
does not naturally fit that mold.
Think about it, though.
As a child you are socialized to be something you may NOT be…and, if you’re a girl, be quiet about it.
As girls get older, things don’t change much.
Granted, on the surface, this is stereotypical but there is some basis in truth, so please bear with me.
Studies have shown that the louder, tougher, more aggressive boys raise their hands more often to ask and answer questions.
Receiving attention and praise, they continue this behavior, overshadowing the more agreeable and quieter girls.
This
type of interaction results in girls receiving less attention and
praise, therefore, fewer opportunities to increase self-esteem.
Because
of this tendency and issues of attraction/distraction in pre-teens and
teenagers, some studies show that girls perform better in school when
they are educated in single-sex classes.
The
recent emphasis has been on increasing the number of girls pursuing an
upper-level education in math and sciences, majors from which girls have
been notoriously absent.
I
often wonder why this is suddenly news because this has been an issue
since the inception of education, “explained” through any number of
ignorant and erroneous theories.
It is apparent, however, that the gap exists due to some level of psycho-social influence.
As
the extremely shy girl who knew the answers and rarely raised her hand,
theoretically, I may have benefitted from a few single-sex classrooms.
Focusing on issues that uniquely affect the education of teenage
girls, dating violence, pregnancy, bullying and rape stand out as just a
few.
According to The National
Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 22.4% of women first
experienced some form of partner violence between 11 and 17 years of
age.
According to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, in the year 2010 alone, the number
of live births to teenagers resulted in 350,000 live births to girls.
The majority will suffer wide-ranging interruptions to their education.
Teenagers are increasingly affected by bullying and cyber bullying –
the use of the internet and technology to deliberately and repeatedly
harm others in a hostile manner – is fast becoming the preferred method.
According
to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, females are more often the victims
of cyber bullying and are more likely to experience social or
psychological bullying.
Interference with education is just a small consequence as, all too often, cyber bullying elevates to a sexual nature.
Alarming
are the stories of teenage rape victims who discover videos of their
rape shared across the internet resulting in extreme forms of harassment
and worse.
At least two girls in North America (that I know of) have committed suicide as they find little support from authorities.
It
is clear that the increasing incidents and cruelty of cyber bullying
will have long-term effects on the education of girls in Western
society.
The major barriers to the education of girls in all communities in the United States are directly related to society.
Certainly, the barriers are not necessarily blatant, literal barriers to the education of girls.
Unmistakably, however, the path toward equality is lined with deeply-rooted barriers, whether obvious or more subtle.
The
struggle continues for me and many others at a grassroots level through
awareness and education; and at a higher level through action and
legislation.
For the sake of
all, we must continue along the path and steadily break down each
barrier to equality with full awareness of the next obstacle.
by Caryn Dudarevitch
morgueFile photo "jdurham"
