More Focus On Developing Countries

Last blog post I brought up the discussion of sub-sharan Africa and south/west Asia and their current position on girls and providing the same education equality as boys. What I didn't realize are all of the other multiple countries that suffer along with Africa and Asia. 

The following link below is an article that focuses on women's education in developing countries such as: Afghanistan, Burkina, Faso, Nepal, Somalia, and Sudan. Unfortunately, I only recognized 3 out of the 6 places that are listed. How many do you know of? Only about 10% of the women from these countries are literate. The authors of the article, Anne Hill and Elizabeth King, inform that in major locations like Libya, China, and Turkey where the literacy rate for men is extremely greater than the women....... 

I'm talking a dominance of 70%. 

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=DL8uSGzj8YIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR12&dq=women+and+education+policy&ots=S3YFvqHLLZ&sig=LvpOTLaZVak9CFvto8STmHWLYZA#v=onepage&q=women%20and%20education%20policy&f=false

A significant contributor that Hill and King believe to be a reason that certain countries lack women's enrollment, or overall admissions from both sexes, are costing and resource availability. The authors explain that aside from the actual school tuition, there are extra cost such as learning material, transportation, and boarding fees that play a role in the effects of how many individuals attend school. 

I was crazy surprised to learnt that in Korea, parents pay for 70% of the national education expense. I'm not talking about for books, uniforms, and supplies... Hills and King were referring to the constructed and operation for school buildings....

The worse part is that the cost expense was greater for girls than for boys. Seriously??? How is that fair??   

In my opinion, education is extremely important for the future of individuals. School courses offer several advantages such as academic knowledge over hundreds of unique subjects, interaction with different races and sexes, and future techniques that are only beneficial to their desired careers and lifestyles. Don't get me wrong... I know there have been mass improvements and undeveloped countries have come a far way. Below is a graph that was created in 2007, that displays the enrollment of boys and girls in secondary schools. It shouldn't be surprising to see that Africa is at the bottom and North America at the top. Do you think education resources and benefits are evenly distributed among countries?? 

A Global Perspective

http://www.aacu.org/ocww/volume40_2/feature.cfm?section=1

The article above addresses the educational struggle that girls face throughout the world. Nelly Stromquist analyzes the different roles that girls portray depicting on their living location. The benefits that girls obtain from attending school include: lower child mortality and illness, greater education for offspring, and higher participation in the work environment. 

Almost all countries have made the full advancements for providing girls the equal right to attend school and extracurricular activities, except in sub-Saharan Africa and South/West Asia. In these particular areas of the world girls are not yet exposed to the educational lifestyle that others are allowed. Instead, they spend their days gathering food and water and taking on the roles of caring for the family. Sadly one in five in a group between these two countries do not get a school education, in relation to a total of 54 million girls not attending a primary or secondary school. 

Unfortunately, the girls that DO get the privilege to attend school become victims of sexual harassment performed by their fellow friends and instructors. Clearly experiences such as sexual harassment can cause extreme fear, anxiety and low self-esteem in individuals. 

On top of the harassment, Stromquist addresses the lack of resources that certain other countries lack and do not provide for their students. Does this seem accurate? The countries that flourish oppose to the ones that struggle have more economic and educational advances that allow them to appropriately provide for their students more accordingly. Just like here in the United States where the children in the families that are more well off and financially blessed have a higher chance of affording/attending a private school or ivy league college. 

 It breaks my heart that girls not only were excluded from school, but responsible for taking care of the family when they should be learning their academics and other tools that'll help them in the future. Not only that, but the few that did get to experience an education were taken advantage of and harassed. It's sad that some people still live like this. I thought we made improvements to women's equality? I can imagine that the girls that endured such traumatizing experiences never wanted to return back to school. Nonetheless, despite all of the challenges that girls have to overcome, they exceed higher in their academics than their fellow male classmates. 

girls v. boys

Above is a picture I found online and I couldn't help but smirk because I find this very true. I'm not sure about the rest of my fellow classmates, but I am always stressed and overwhelmed with a combination of school, work, and personal family obligations. I thankfully do not have a husband or child to look after... Only myself, but that seems to be enough on my plate as of lately. 

I try not to, but I can be one to complain about all of the stress I am experiencing that has me on edge and overly emotional. However, I can't say the same for when it comes to my guy friends. They never seemed stressed when it comes to any school curriculum, assignments, or exams. While I'm over here pulling all nighters, visiting tutorial centers, and practically tugging my hair out until I understand each concept and lesson. I never hear my guy friends complain about school, let alone about money, work, or family. 

We learned this week in our book Women and the Law: Stories how in the late 1990's it was discovered that boys weren't responding to school and education as well as the girls were. The author, Elizabeth Schneider reported that boys were showing educational disadvantages, school disciplinary measures, higher truancy/explosion, and lower academic performance. Overall boys had higher dropout rates than girls. Does this make sense to you? Boys were so fortunate enough to get admissions into school without any difficulties, whereas girls had to fight and protest their way through courts and acts just to get their voices heard. 

Girls wanted so bad to have the education that boys were just handed. It's sad to me that some the boys didn't take it seriously and took it more as a joke than a blessing. Thankfully, this isn't exactly the case today, both girls and boys of all ages seem more focused on their academic courses and future career possibilities. 

According to this graph I'm not the only one that feels this way! What do you think?

The School District of Philadelphia and the VMI

Recently learned from our book Women and the Law: Stories author Elizabeth Schneider and Stephanie Wildman explore the struggle that girls endured as they fought to have the same equal rights of school admissions that boys did. The authors focused on the controversial Vorchheimer v. School District of Philadelphia case and the Virginia Military Institute v. United States. 

In the early 17th century girls rarely had education that expanded beyond their homes to the late 19th century where girls had higher criteria for enrollment then men. Doesn't seem like much of change, huh? The justification for this was that girls were being protected from the harshness of politics, military duties, and economic competition. These were only issues that men could "handle" at the time. 

In the Vorchheimer v. School District of Philadelphia, Susan Vorchheimer battled to gain admissions to Central High School, which in her eyes was the most prestigious public school in her community. Unfortunately, Susan was unable to prove that Central High School constituted gender discrimination.

On the other hand the Virginia Military Institute prided itself on the structor and high demands the school provided. From focusing on liberal arts, engineering, and science subjects, this institute was known for it's military style culture and regimen. With an adversative system of education, physical rigor and mental stress, and intensity of challenges this was thought to be no place for girls. Ultimately, VMI lost their case for the institute failed to abide by the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

Thankfully for me, when I began school as a little girl in the mid 1990's I had no issues with admissions and enrollment to any of the public school my mother saw fit. Even to this day, with being a student at University of Houston, my process couldn't have gone more smoothly. This sadly wasn't the case for the girls before my time. 

                                 _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 

The cartoon posted above is just one of the many excuses schools made so that girls wouldn't be allowed to educate themselves with boys. As if boys were the sex that attend class for the good grades and future prospect for a successful life... That's a joke! Even in our book the authors acknowledged that the boys suffered from educational disadvantages and displayed lower academic performances. 

It doesn't sit well with me that out of both sexes the one that doesn't take their academics seriously are the ones that get easy admissions. Meanwhile, girls have to be taught at home and receive lower educational supplies and opportunities. I'm glad Schneider and Wildman exposed the harsh reality that girls were facing for I might not have ever come to know why I'm blessed to have the academic advantages I do. 

TITLE IX

You can't discuss women and their fight for equality in education without mentioning Title IX. This education amendment was created to permanently diminish sex discrimination in any education or activity program. Women finally having the right to enroll and attend school was a major milestone in the nineteenth century, but that wasn't enough. Once enrolled in school women still weren't apart of the same playing field that men were involved in. School and universities focused on male sports and activities, leaving very little for women. Financially, majority of the school budget concentrated on improving the male sports. This became a whole other issue as women such as Patsy T. Mink argued that all aspects of education should be equal.  

The video below is a short clip that describes Patsy T. Mink and her role in the Title IX amendment.   

Do you think Patsy T. Mink's daughters accident was intentional? Ironically, on the day of voting Mink's daughter was involved in a car accident, which caused the mother to not be apart of the debate. Thankfully, respectable men like Carol Albert reschedule a re-vote so Mink could attend, which in result kept sports apart of Title IX.

Today, not only men, but women are able to be apart of sports teams and earn scholarships that will possibly lead them into a professional career. We have women like Mink and men like Albert to thank for that and their determination for equality. Personally, I was very active growing up and played every sport I was good at in school. Being apart of so many teams kept me on top of my grades and school work and exposed me to diverse groups of girls. Each team I was involved in we were a family and we learned the importance of protecting and looking after one another. I acquired new skills and knowledge that I other wise wouldn't have been shown if I wasn't apart of sports teams. It's sad that women were denied that enjoyable, growing experience for so long. Men, nor women, deserve to be the center of attention, not in school, on the field or in a work environment. 

Overview

You wouldn't think that women once had an issue attending school. As of last year there was 11.3 million women enrolled in college universities during the fall semester. It is hard to imagine that in the seventeenth and eighteenth century women were denied the right to study any type of curriculum, compared to the twenty-first century where 56.8% of students are female.

In our Women and Law class we learned that organizations such as the Women's Club deserved credit for our advances in gaining women's rights when it comes to education. It was realized that women couldn't rely on their husband's financial work to consistently support themselves and their families. In result, by the mid eighteenth century, women were now feeling the urgency to get out into the world as their own and own means of support. Hence the Women's Club was established to help women advance their education, secure their autonomy, and assert influence in the public sphere. 

For women to reach the success they have today took decades of hard work from other courageous, out-spoken women. It wasn't until 1972 when the Title IX Prohibits Sex Discrimination act was created, that demand "no person on the basis of sex is to be subjected to discrimination under any education program." Following in 1974 was the Women's Educational Equity Act that focused on advocating equity in education and  providing assistance to encourage institutions to meet the educational requirements. 

Fast forwarding to the twenty-first century where there are still developing groups and organizations that are persistent on increasing women's equality in education. For example, the Education for All that focus on scholarships, female teacher recruitment, and provision of materials.  

It's disgusting reading cases such as Bradwell v. Illinois 1873, where women such as Myra Bradwell were turned away for admission to the bar because she was a women. The court rejected her due to their "consideration" that the bar would destroy her femininity, as if they were doing her a favor denying her to education. As a woman currently attending a university, I feel extremely privileged and thankful knowing that my grades are the only thing dependent on my education.

Before this Women and Law class, I was extremely uninformed of the struggle that women endured in the prior centuries. Aside from the brave women that took a stand, it's groundbreaking moments like the war that inevitably pushed women to become independent and supportive of themselves. When considered married, women had their little rights stripped away from them and officially became one with their husband. Relying on the men to be the public sphere, provide for the family financially by working, left the women with no education nor work experience. What if a husband left to go into battle, leaving his wife and children at home, only to never return? Who would then provide for the family? In result, I can only imagine the pressure women felt to acquire an education and then a stable job. It cost to live, even back then. Everyone now has the same opportunities to gain an education and that's how it should be! 

-Kara Jalomo

References:

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/278200-1099079877269/547664-1099080014368/DID_Girls_edu.pdf

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womencensus1.html

Feminist Legal Hstory: Essays on Women and Law

Edited by Tracy A. Thomas and Tracey Jean Boisseau