Living with Strength and Kindliness
Did you know that 132 million girls in the world do not go to school!
Over the weekend I was watching my all time favourite movie, a beautiful love story set in 16th Century Venice. The film is titled "A Destiny of Her Own" and it is the kind of film that renews your passion for romance and love. It is set during the early and mid 1500s in a time where marriages were arranged and women were silenced from participating in everyday society.
The main female character in a “Destiny of Her Own” is a young woman of "common" background. She and one of the young noblemen fall passionately in love. But it is a forbidden love, one where there will never, ever be a happy ending. So, her mother teaches her to live the life of a courtesan. In this life it is hoped that the young woman can keep her love alive whilst also retaining her reputation.
Now, I won’t give the rest of the story away but to say that it is the most beautiful story that I have watched. And I have watched it so many times and each time I cannot help myself but cry (I am not really a hopeless romantic at all!).
As you are most likely all accustomed to, it is very difficult to watch a movie by yourself when you have other people moving about in the household. So, my kids were meddling around the place and every now and then they would have a look at me and keep on with their own business. Until I started to cry! Then they couldn’t help themselves and then came the questions. And as you can imagine, there were many of them. For example: Well, why is it sad? Well, why can’t she just say what she thinks? Well, why isn’t she educated. Why didn’t girls get to go to school? And it went on an on and on. Luckily, I had already seen the films 25 times before so the disruptions weren’t ruining the story…this time!
And so I was trying to explain to my kids after the movie that there was a time when girls didn’t get to go to school and that in some countries in the world girls still don’t get to go to school. And they looked at me blankly and in a very straight forward kind of way they said……why?
As always seems to be the case - I think digital technology has a way of reading our minds nowadays an article appeared three days later on this very topic. And the headline read, "an education can break entire cycles of poverty" followed by another insert that read "132 million girls in our world today are not going to school". It’s a gobsmacking statistic!
I cannot answer or understand why in some places in the world that girls are unworthy of an education; that going to school is just for the wealthy and the privileged. In my opinion, and I don’t think it is only because I am a teacher, I think that the basic human right of education belongs to girls (especially those on the lowest rungs of the poverty scale) as much as anyone else.
Surely one can see that education for all members of a society can only bring positive outcomes for that society. That in fact the power of education is that it can bring a brighter future not only to the individual but for large groups of people. It is believed that if girls were educated across all areas of the world that we would be more likely to improve the wider economic capacity of their families and their communities, combat the issues of climate change and improve issues of security and peace across the world. Education in fact strengthens the human spirit and could quite realistically change the world.
I found it sad to read that one of the lines in the article stated "Nobody is more vulnerable than a girl" and another line that said these girls are often "the most marginalised and hardest to reach". I wasn’t brought up like this, I know it, and I also know how lucky I am not to have experienced that vulnerability.
A child born to a literate mother is 50 percent more likely to live past the age of five. The age of five? How can we think this is an acceptable statistic. Educated mothers are twice as likely to send their children to school Other statistics stage that girls who don’t have the opportunity for education are at risk of early marriage, child slavery and extreme poverty.
There are many factors that limit the opportunities for girls to be educated: lack of teachers, countries that are constantly in a state of war, fire poverty, political failure, family priorities, gender discrimination and lack of resources are just a few.
It is understandable that my favourite movie, set just after the Dark Ages, has some old style traditions – ideas that we would now consider to be archaic. It is interesting to watch that even in these times some women desired to be better educated, play a greater role in their societies and make choices for themselves to make their own lives better. It is not acceptable today.
When I was thinking about this topic this week I then came across an Australian government website that gave an overview of the work that our development and aid programs are undertaking the Indo Pacific Region and I was really impressed by what I found. Australia has signed on to the Statement of Action to Accelerate Marginalised Girls' Education Outcomes and Gender Equality, affirming our nation’s commitment to advocate for policies and investments that empower girls with a focus on assisting vulnerable women and girls to assist them to live fulfilling and productive lives.
Have a look here: https://www.dfat.gov.au/aid/topics/investment-priorities/education-health/education/Pages/girls-education
132 million girls is an unfathomable statistic.
Kirrilee Westblade
Catholic Identity Leader
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