As you all know, on October 11, Holton joined in the worldwide celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child. As it happens, this annual observance came shortly before I began my annual stint teaching the unit on women in the developing world in our Global Perspectives class, the trimester-long minor class that we require of all students who will be participating in Junior Journeys. For me, this means even greater focus on issues related to girls and women.
The United Nations established the International Day of the Girl Child in 2011 to "recognize girls' rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world." Devoting a day to girls allows the UN "to promote girls' empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights." For Holton to celebrate such a day seems completely in keeping with our mission, especially since so much of the UN's work related to girls emphasizes education. Moreover, the creation of this day also supports the UN's Sustainability Goals, one of which is Gender Equality. Along with developing global competencies, the Sustainability Goals form the foundation of Holton's Global Education Program.
As some of you may suspect (or even know), in fact, girls' situations worldwide have actually improved quite significantly in the last few decades. In the US, for example, girls tend to get better grades in school than boys, and women make up the majority of college students and college graduates. Last year, for the second year in a row, women represented the majority of US law school students; likewise, in 2017, women, for the first time, made up the majority of US medical school students. Beyond our shores, girls have also made strides, strides we often fail to recognize. In Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – And Why Things Are Better Than You Think (one of our faculty/staff summer reading books), Hans Rosling points out that 60% of girls in low-income countries finish primary school (3) and that while worldwide 30-year-old men have spent 10 years on average in school, women the same age have spent only a year less (5). Most people in the West, when asked questions about these two statistics, dramatically underestimate this significant progress in female educational attainment.
Indeed, the UN's 2018 Global Education Monitoring Report Gender Review shows how far we have come in educating girls. For example, for the world as a whole, we have reached gender parity in education. In 2015, according to the UN, 264 million children were not enrolled in school, either at the elementary or secondary level; while that is still a very high number, the good news is that the split between boys and girls was roughly equal. However, not all countries or regions have achieved parity. Girls in Africa and Western Asia remain at a disadvantage from an educational standpoint, while boys in Eastern and Southeast Asia are more likely not to attend secondary school than their female peers. Countries' income levels matter, too. In low-income countries, girls are less likely to finish school, while in middle and upper income countries boys are less likely. However, even with all this progress, there are still 5 million more girls not in primary school compared to boys, and obviously, if they're not in primary school, they will never get to high school. Moreover, global numbers can be deceiving. For example, while we may have achieved global gender parity in secondary education, in fact only 45% of countries have reached that goal for lower secondary schooling and a mere 25% for upper secondary.
We should care about girls' schooling for more reasons than simply equity. Educating girls has direct positive effects. According to the USAID,
- For every 10% of adolescent girls who attend school, a country's GDP rises by 3%.
- Every additional year of secondary school a girl attends increases her earning power 10-20%.
- Literate mothers' children have a 50% greater likelihood of surviving past the age of five.
Clearly, many countries have recognized the value of educating girls and have actively promoted girls' education. However, while the world has made notable strides for young girls, we still have much work to do. As the official page of the International Day of the Girl Child states:
In 2015, girls in the first decade of life are more likely to enroll in primary school, receive key vaccinations, and are less likely to suffer from health and nutrition problems than were previous generations. However, there has been insufficient investment in addressing the challenges girls face when they enter the second decade of their lives. This includes obtaining quality secondary and higher education, avoiding child marriage, receiving information and services related to puberty and reproductive health, and protecting themselves against unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease and gender-based violence.
Our students understand that these issues matter. On the International Day of the Girl Child, we challenged them – in small cross-grade-level groups – to create videos in the spirit of the day: a creative effort to empower girls. They had several requirements, one of which was incorporating statistics. Their statistics reflected the concerns about girls that the UN continues to focus on as they try to improve societies across the globe: statistics about the number of girls not in school, about violence against girls, about child marriage, about the pay gap, about the low percentage of female CEO's and members of Congress; statistics about girls' low self-esteem, need to please, and poor mental health.
What did they say to those girls out there who might not feel empowered?
- Be bold
- Be brave
- Be fearless
- Be strong
- Be yourself
- Be confident
- Be proud
- Be powerful
- Be kind
- Be inspired
- Be awesome
"With a little encouragement," one group said, "we can do anything." "You're perfect in your own way," advised another. "Believe in yourself," they asserted.
As they countered the statistics and stereotypes, they described themselves as
- Daring
- Fierce
- Strong
- Smart
- Powerful
- Unique
- Artistic
- Athletic
- Creative
- Brave
- Loved
- Beautiful
- Intelligent
- Capable
- Persistent
- Resilient
- Courageous
- Kind
- Intuitive
One group took on "bossy," proclaiming, I'm not bossy; I'm the boss." Many focused on the use of their voices, declaring, "I will not be silenced." Another group asserted, "your voice matters!" and you can use it to "change the lives of women around the globe." "The future is female," announced yet another group. One group devoted their whole video to the power of kindness. In an especially heartening theme, several groups highlighted the power of collective action urging girls to "stand together," to "support each other," and "to support your sister," because "together girls can change the world." The Mia Hamm quotation, "my coach told me I ran like a girl; I told him if he ran faster, he would too," appeared at least twice. My two favorite quotes were, "A strong woman looks a challenge in the eye and gives it a wink" (unattributed) and "A girl should be two things: who and what she wants." (Coco Chanel). And, of course, the school's motto appeared occasionally.
I especially liked a video featuring Holton Heroes, an athlete, a scientist, a dragon whisperer, and a CEO, along with a defier of beauty standards, and some students, who burst onto the screen as "one group of girls [who] will change the world." The little girl in Malawi who will never get a chance to go to school will never see these videos, but her daughter, or the daughters of other girls like her around the world, may well benefit from the empowerment of a Holton education when one of those Holton Heroes ventures out into the world, intent on making it a better place.
