The past few days I've been visiting slum development activities run by Keshav Seva Samiti. The work they're doing is phenomenal: volunteers run free tuition (coaching) classes for kids in 100 slums, medical camps, self-help groups, and vocational training. In one tuition center I visited, I spoke to an 8th grade girl named Kavya. Although she's a bright student, she studies in a government school as her parents cannot afford to send her to a private school (her father is a porter and her mother works in a garment factory). Most government schools in India are notorious for their poor quality and lack of resources.
But after learning more about Kavya's family, I found that although she goes to a government school, her parents pay for her 2 younger brothers, who are in 2nd and 3rd grade, to attend a private school. I found this ironic as Kavya is in high school, an age where the school quality is much more important than in elementary school. So even if her parents can't afford to send all 3 of their kids to private schools, it makes sense for them to at least invest their resources in Kavya. I asked someone later why this was, already knowing the reason in the back of my mind, and the answer was simply "because she's a girl."
From the parents' perspective, investing in their sons' education may seem more financially beneficial, but what message does this send to Kavya? She told me she wants to become a doctor when she's older because she sees so much illness in the world and she wants to help others. Are her life goals less valuable just because she's a girl? She's been coming to the tuition center daily without fail for 3 years in addition to doing a host of household chores and taking care of her brothers. Is it fair that her hard work and efforts should be sacrificed just because she's a girl?
I realize that I may be coming off as sounding overly idealistic and that Kavya's parents must be facing their own problems and that the world is not fair, but it still frustrates me that this girl's dreams are being sacrificed for the sake of her brothers. If her own parents don't support her dreams, who can she expect support from?
The most unfortunate part is that there are millions of others like her around the world. Gender-based discrimination plagues every single country (including "developed" ones) and comes in various forms: unequal education and job opportunities, unequal wages, early marriage, gender-based violence; even the right to live is denied to girls with female infanticide and sex-selective abortion. I suppose in a way Kavya is lucky that she gets to go to school at all, as many girls don't even get that much. This is not something that just happens in movies or the media, and it should not be dismissed as "feminist hype." It is a very brutal and true reality for millions of girls. Somewhere in the back of our minds we are all aware of all these inequalities and see them even in America, but in the past few weeks, it has somehow become more real for me.
This really makes me realize the need for putting a special emphasis on girls' education. All the NGOs I've met so far realize this and focus many of their activities on girls and women. In both the Keshav Seva Samiti and Youth for Seva "Sponsor a child" programs (http://www.sponsorachild.youthforseva.org/), girl children are especially encouraged and given scholarships to attend good schools.
These experiences make me really thankful that my own parents ensured that I was never denied any opportunity. They support me in whatever I want to study, whatever I want to do. I never felt that I was being made to sacrifice my desires, goals, or life dreams for the sake of my brother or anyone else. And I believe that even if our family had fewer resources, my parents' attitude would not change and they would not deny me the opportunity to dream big just "because I'm a girl."
Fortunately there are also people in the slums who support their daughters' and sons' education whole-heartedly. Out of the women I interacted with, many of them have big dreams for their children and want to give them every opportunity that they did not get. The activities of Keshav Seva Samiti and other NGOs are developing this kind of mindset among people; it is exactly with this social change that people like Kavya will no longer have to regret that they were born as girls.
But after learning more about Kavya's family, I found that although she goes to a government school, her parents pay for her 2 younger brothers, who are in 2nd and 3rd grade, to attend a private school. I found this ironic as Kavya is in high school, an age where the school quality is much more important than in elementary school. So even if her parents can't afford to send all 3 of their kids to private schools, it makes sense for them to at least invest their resources in Kavya. I asked someone later why this was, already knowing the reason in the back of my mind, and the answer was simply "because she's a girl."
From the parents' perspective, investing in their sons' education may seem more financially beneficial, but what message does this send to Kavya? She told me she wants to become a doctor when she's older because she sees so much illness in the world and she wants to help others. Are her life goals less valuable just because she's a girl? She's been coming to the tuition center daily without fail for 3 years in addition to doing a host of household chores and taking care of her brothers. Is it fair that her hard work and efforts should be sacrificed just because she's a girl?
I realize that I may be coming off as sounding overly idealistic and that Kavya's parents must be facing their own problems and that the world is not fair, but it still frustrates me that this girl's dreams are being sacrificed for the sake of her brothers. If her own parents don't support her dreams, who can she expect support from?
The most unfortunate part is that there are millions of others like her around the world. Gender-based discrimination plagues every single country (including "developed" ones) and comes in various forms: unequal education and job opportunities, unequal wages, early marriage, gender-based violence; even the right to live is denied to girls with female infanticide and sex-selective abortion. I suppose in a way Kavya is lucky that she gets to go to school at all, as many girls don't even get that much. This is not something that just happens in movies or the media, and it should not be dismissed as "feminist hype." It is a very brutal and true reality for millions of girls. Somewhere in the back of our minds we are all aware of all these inequalities and see them even in America, but in the past few weeks, it has somehow become more real for me.
This really makes me realize the need for putting a special emphasis on girls' education. All the NGOs I've met so far realize this and focus many of their activities on girls and women. In both the Keshav Seva Samiti and Youth for Seva "Sponsor a child" programs (http://www.sponsorachild.youthforseva.org/), girl children are especially encouraged and given scholarships to attend good schools.
These experiences make me really thankful that my own parents ensured that I was never denied any opportunity. They support me in whatever I want to study, whatever I want to do. I never felt that I was being made to sacrifice my desires, goals, or life dreams for the sake of my brother or anyone else. And I believe that even if our family had fewer resources, my parents' attitude would not change and they would not deny me the opportunity to dream big just "because I'm a girl."
Fortunately there are also people in the slums who support their daughters' and sons' education whole-heartedly. Out of the women I interacted with, many of them have big dreams for their children and want to give them every opportunity that they did not get. The activities of Keshav Seva Samiti and other NGOs are developing this kind of mindset among people; it is exactly with this social change that people like Kavya will no longer have to regret that they were born as girls.
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