The right to obtaining knowledge through education should be made accessible to anyone who is willing to acquire it. Education should not be used by oppressive members of society as a method for stifling young minds through the selective picking, choosing and distributing of knowledge to those who they regard as externally/physically worthy enough to obtain it.
Women through time e.g Marie Sklodowska Curie and more recently Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, have proven themselves to be more than capable of obtaining and, more so, surpassing men in regards to academic excellence. We as a gender should not have to keep proving ourselves as an adequate sex which deserves to be educated. The longer the struggle keeps being side-lined the more we will deal with saddening campaigns such as BRING BACK OUR GIRLS. This campaign was started after the extremist group Boko haram kidnapped 200+ girls with plans to sell them on the human trafficking marketplace in opposition to western education. Is it a fear of female excellence that makes such extremists oppress and stifle such beautiful young minds? If we unified on an international stage and were able to stop dwelling on sexual genitalia as a criteria for education and became capable of coming together to recognise female excellence such things would not occur. If we are unified in the importance of educating young girls and setting a premise for equality then maybe we can eventually move from this topic of unfairness and tackle other social and political issues.
The benefits of educating women can be seen in the current female president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff and other influential females such as the CEO of Xerox Ursula Burns who have uplifted themselves to great heights through education. The 21st century is characterised by change, innovation and the 21st century woman is more than capable of handling herself within such an environment. The decision to educate women should not be one that is even debatable anymore in this century and we do not need to keep defending out gender. It is absolutely disgusting that young girls like Malala Yousafzai get shot by groups like the Taliban for wanting to have equal rights and Western education. The campaign and equality movement that women like Malala, who has survived her persecution, fight for is a worthy cause. I am a strong human rights advocate and when it comes to gender differences I think that inequality is an injustice and like Martin Luther King said ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’. It is time that society accepts that women are intelligent and just as capable as our male counterparts.
This struggle cannot only be seen in the 3rd world countries but is still visible in the Western society. Although the equal rights revolution has occurred, we still see how some women are living in a state of limbo where some are now waiting for the changes to be accepted. This can be showcased in the recent issues with struggles for equal pay for women and other things which should have naturally come when women obtained the vote and other rights of that nature.
Everywoman has her desires and dreams and some do wish to be a housewives, but I think that for those who desire to make a mark on this world they should have the right to do so. The notion of a young girl not being allowed to choose her future is absolutely absurd. If being a housewife is their desired plan for life then by all means let them, but we should not subject those who do want to be educated to such a stereotypical role.
OLIANDLOLA
XO
NEXT UP LOOK OUT FOR
'BLACKTIVISM WITH NTOMBI'
