My Vision For Girls

If I could tell the girls in my community, compound, and classroom anything it would be that they are beautiful.

If I could tell girls anything it would be that they are worthy of love and respect.

If I could tell girls anything it would be that they are strong.

If I could tell girls anything it would be that they are capable of anything.

If I could tell girls anything it would be that they deserve nothing less than the very best.

If I could tell girls anything it would be that looks aren’t as important as brains and intuition.

If I could tell girls anything it would be that their voices deserve to be heard.

If I could tell girls anything it would be that they matter.

What I see around me is a constant state of females being put down by males and each other. In the US and other “developed” countries this is done by the media and a still male dominated society. In Ethiopia and other less developed countries this is done by a still very male dominated society.

Back home I would have first grade girls coming up to me wanting to play “supermodel” on the playground, with skirts getting shorter and shorter. Their young minds already on makeup, boys, and “reality tv”. Their minds less empowered than their bodies. The media and society around them telling them books, science, history, and the knowledge of soccer, football, and building is not for them. They would be better suited for modeling for cars than designing them, that they need to diet to be skinny, not workout to be healthy. That their worth is in what cup size they are, not what GPA they have.

Not to downplay how far women have come in western society. We are now able to vote, more females are in power in politics than ever before, and we are slowly beginning to climb up the ranks of power in Fortune 500 companies and are making more decisions in the workplace and less at home. However, when we have yet to have a female president and other less “progressive” countries have more females in power in politics than we do, we should really look at how our society views gender roles. When we have men complaining about their wives making more money than them, when we have females who can become millionaires from just their looks, and when we begin to stick girls in things like “Toddlers and Tiaras”, we are lowering our standards of how we treat our population.

Here I have found the problem to be different, and in many ways it is harder to swallow because it is less familiar to me. I have many females in my 9^th grade class, however the percentage who fail the 10^th grade exam is much higher than the males. The females in my classes are copying notes from friends because they didn’t get to do their homework the night before because they were cooking and cleaning for their family. I have girls who are looked at like pieces of meat by men on the street and teachers. I have students who laugh when they are slapped on the butt by their male peers, but their eyes tell a different story. When I pass females on the street I am constantly amazed by how they laugh off the males and their comments, but their demeanors show me they are not ok with what is happening. When I go to market, females are the ones buying and hauling food, men sit around and drink buna. When I enter a compound during the day the women are cooking and cleaning, washing and caring for children.

My students are shocked when I put a sentence up on the board such as “Aregawi makes buna”, “Gebre washed the clothes”, or “Kiflom will go to market”. I get laughed at when I ask which of my male students go home to care for their younger siblings. When I walk down the street there are rarely females “hanging out” like the males, and when they are they are surrounded by males almost like a prize.

Being a female in this context is so much more difficult than being back home. Although the States has many difficulties, being here has made me realize how many rights I have that don’t seem to apply here. I want to tell all the girls around the world how worthy they are, but society continues to tell them they aren’t.

My vision for girls is that they would earn the same amount of money as guys.

My vision for girls is that they can actually be whatever they want to be.

My vision for girls is that they can marry whoever they want when they want.

My vision for girls is that they can study and be book smart without being labeled as the nerd.

My vision for girls is that they can cook, clean, and take care of the family on their own terms and their own decision without being judged either way.

My vision for girls is that they won’t be brushed aside for being too emotional or weak.

My vision for girls is that they can stand up for themselves and be taken seriously without fearing for their own safety.

My vision for girls is that they won’t have to walk down the street in fear of being harassed or assaulted.

My vision for girls is that they are judged by their character and their wisdom, not by their appearance.

My vision for girls is that they have the power to change the world.