I grew up mostly around my father and brother. I played baseball and built forts, and when I skinned my knees, I was told to shake it off. In some ways, I was cultured like a boy, but there was never a time when I forgot I wasn’t. When I got to be nine or ten, I was told that I had to play softball instead of baseball. I was told that my short, pixie haircut made me look like a boy. I was ostracized in class when I wanted to be a leader: I was called “bossy,” but when a boy made the same assertions, and more rudely, I might add, no one batted an eyelash. Despite being comfortable in crossing gender lines and standing up to expectations about how I should express my gender, my femininity, my girlhood, and now my womanhood, misogyny has shaped my experience. I’ve had my share of difficulties; I’ve seen the glass ceiling from below, but mostly, I’ve been able to bust through it with effort. For women worldwide, the ceiling is made out of concrete. The issues are tenfold. This global gender inequality is the largest problem facing women in the areas of education, political representation, and labor.
Imagine for a moment having never gone to school. Most of us probably can’t. The very fact that you’re reading this article, the very fact that I’m being afforded the opportunity to write it and that I possess the skills and tools necessary to access information and publish this says something about our mutual privilege as Westerners and Americans.
Gender parity, or the relative access to education between girls and boys is in crisis; it is a global tragedy whose effects ripple generationally and beyond. Globally, there are 31 million girls out of school at the primary education level, and while there is hope that some of these girls will enter their respective educational systems, about 17 million will never become educated (UNESCO). The older the girls get, the less likely they are to enter school, and the number of girls out of school as adolescents grows to about 34 million (UNESCO). The numbers for boys out of school, as expected, are lower, by about four million.
This lack of education for girls has devastating effects on every aspect of their lives. In the most obvious sense, it prevents literacy. Girls who can’t read can’t fight for their rights. If they cannot read the laws of their country or write their name, they cannot create fulfilling lives. Reading and writing are tools that are necessary for any other type of success or liberation. Education is the basis of all other successes; without it, women remain subordinate to their husbands, sons, and governments. According to an article published by the Peace Corps, Sub-Saharan Africa, South-Asia, and the Middle East perform the worst when it comes to gender parity, but upon further research I found that it is Sub-Saharan Africa that shows the lowest numbers. Only two out of the thirty-five countries in the region have gender parity (UNICEF).
If women were supported in these countries the way men are, many of the global issues facing all people would be greatly reduced or cease to exist. Educated women are less likely to marry before the age of eighteen or become HIV positive, and they are more likely to raise smaller, more educated, and healthier families (Peace Corps). The acquisition of information and skills gives women power, and that is why access education is so lacking in these countries. Women empowered are women in power, and women in power means the end of patriarchies and misogynist traditions. Among tradition and social norms, other barriers facing women and girls in education include school fees and tuition, inadequate government policy as it applies to women’s rights, and negative classroom environments. In some cases, girls’ presence in the classroom has resulted in violence and corporal punishment (UNICEF). Other factors (and some of these may be regional) include genital mutilation, a practice most common in Egypt, Sudan, and Mali, child labor or marriage, and chores or work in the home (UNICEF). But how can women get an education if their governing bodies do not allow it?
Women, worldwide, make up 50% of the world’s population but make up only 22% of the world’s parliaments. This is reflected in our own Congress, of which women only comprise 19.4% (CAWP). Here in the United States, we may think we perform well when it comes to gender parity, but we may also be surprised that Rwanda, a country of East Africa, has a lower house of which 63.8% of seats are occupied by women (UN Women). According to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, there are thirty-seven nations in which less than 10% of parliamentarians are women. The most complicated part of political gender inequality is that it directly affects every other form of gender inequality. If girls and women do not have representation in their governments, it is near impossible for progress to be made without the intervention of organizations like UNICEF or the United Nations. And the problem lies not only in underrepresentation, but also in misrepresentation. Women are being represented by the men in their regions, and this can lead to appalling policy or a lack of policy altogether.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, one in of every three girls are married before the age of eighteen, and one in nine are married before fifteen in developing countries. Despite international law banning child marriage, it is local, state, and regional laws that are failing young girls and women. It is not only a policy failure, but a great failure in human rights to have young girls as child brides, starting families as children themselves. While many countries have laws on the books (likely to appease international rights organizations) prohibiting child marriage, there are also exceptions. This means that in some parts of the world, if the child’s parents give consent, the girl may still be married. According to Girls Not Brides, some religious law can even override national law, meaning that while the girl may be protected by one entity, she is endangered by another. For these girls, it’s a catch 22. If women had proper representation in their respective governments, it is doubtful that child marriage would be as prevalent. Proper and proportional political representation allows women personal autonomy, and this means sexual and reproductive autonomy as well as autonomy in other areas of life. Men should not be making laws about women and their bodies.
Educating women and representing them politically would fundamentally change the state of women on our planet. This would mean that women have choices and get to work, which would not only enrich the lives of women worldwide but it would also have positive, lasting effects for the global economy. In an article published by Time magazine entitled Gender Inequality Costs the Global Economy $28 Trillion, Charlotte Alter explained that the combined GDPs of both China and the United States would grow by 26% by 2025 if both nations fully integrated women into their workforces. If in these two countries alone, women were to participate equally, the global economy would grow by an estimated $28 trillion. This proves that not only is it tragic from a human rights standpoint not to promote the inclusion and safety of women in all areas, but that it is also economically unwise. It’s no secret that women aren’t getting a fair shake at entering the labor force, and in many cases, if they do get a shake, it is a shallow shake indeed.
Somehow, with the constant flow of information and time, we have largely come, as a society, to the conclusion that the fight for equal rights has been won for women. Young people learn about the women’s rights movement mostly within the context of the fight for suffrage. Often, we are taught only about what has been accomplished and not as much about what stones have been left unturned. Especially here in the United States, there is a very large stigma on the word “feminist.” People tend to associate feminism with misandry, or prejudice against men. I have heard both women and men say that feminism serves no further purpose, and that what has been accomplished is “enough.” The fact that we are choosing to use the word “enough” rather than the word “equal” calls for a need for this movement to march onward.
The problem with the claim that women have gained equal rights is not only that it is incorrect, it is narrow minded and selfish. Yes, maybe here in the U.S. women can go out and apply for jobs. We can vote, we can drive, and we can take roles of leadership in our jobs and communities – but what about the rampant sexual assault on our campuses nationwide? How many men fear for their safety or look over their shoulder when walking to their car from a party? How many carry pepper spray “just in case?” Further, what about women outside our experience as American or white women? What is the black female experience like here or abroad? What can be said for the women in Cameroon with breasts deformed from being ironed? Or girls like Malala Yousafzai, a girl just about my age who was shot in the head by the Taliban on her school bus?
It is not only an uneducated thing to say that women are equal in today’s society, it is dangerous and unwise. Feminism is not only about what happens in our own neighborhoods; it is about the global forecast for women’s futures, and unfortunately, it is the worst sort of cloudy. We must step outside our own narrative and become vulnerable to the truths of human experiences we know nothing about before we can denounce a movement that seeks to protect and empower.
Progress is the way but it is not the end. Just because we make strides in justice on our social landscape does not mean there is not work left to be done. Just because black folks and women can vote and own land does not mean we are equal. We are under the impression that moving forward means we can wash our hands of the work and put it in a history book as completed. The history of women and people of color is an ongoing story, constantly evolving and rewriting itself, but if we keep giving the pen to the wrong people, it won’t be written down accurately.
What has happened as a result of progress in women’s rights through relentless feminist activism is exactly what keeps women from gaining more rights, but we must continue. As I stated earlier, women empowered are women in power. Many men in developing countries view women as inherently subordinate and submissive. Educating these women is the first step to allowing them to speak for themselves and seek political office, and from that, women gain the ability to change to their lives – not only how they live individually, but who gets to dictate that living and how they get to dictate it. This progress strikes fear into leaders and men who seek the continued oppression of women. May their fear be the fuel to our fire.
We raise children, all too often alone; we nourish directly from our bodies, and we do the hard, unpaid labor in our homes, often without thanks. I encourage women reading this to think of your life as a South Asian or African woman before you disregard the necessity for feminism. Think of your life without a washing machine, a toilet, or laws that protect you. Women are the backbone of this world, and just because we, as American women, get to stand up tall, doesn’t mean that there aren’t millions of girls and women who are crushed and crippled under the weight of oppressive governments and societies. It is on us to take control of our lives and futures, but if men are part of the problem, they’ve got to be part of the solution too. The difficult questions of inequality elicit equally difficult answers, but every young man raised right is one step closer to a world that hands the pen back to women – we can and should write our own stories, but in this collective female experience, we’ve got to write it together.
