Empowering Girls: Beijing and Beyond

November 11, 2020

Episcopal UN

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By: Maria Gonzalez, Diocese of Olympia (Province VIII)

Several years ago, my abue gave me some advice: “Ve a escuela. Aprende algo útil para que puedas sostenerte.” Go to school. Learn something useful to sustain yourself. Her advice was simple, but her tone was resolute. I don’t know where we were when she told me this, nor do I remember what we were talking about. I do, however, know the context from which her advice came.

Abue grew up in Mérida, Yucatán. She loved Mérida, and she still does, but I believe her one regret is that she never actually finished school. She only went to school through eighth grade because that is what was expected of her — what was expected of a girl. Abue and abuelo immigrated to Los Angeles when my dad was seven. Abue found work at a dress shop and at the City Hall cafeteria, among other things. I’ve never heard her explicitly express discontent with these jobs, but her advice is telling. Go to school. Learn something useful to sustain yourself. I believe this is what she wishes someone had told her as a girl. As she grew older, she realized that girls deserve a complete, quality education. They deserve to be raised in love and given a fair shot. Girls deserve nothing short of the world.

I became involved with UNCSW because there are still girls in the world who, seventy years later, are having the same experience that abue did because countries across the world continue to fail to provide girls with what they need and deserve. In its 12th critical area of concern, entitled “The girl child,” the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action recognizes these failures and the impact they have on a girl throughout her life. Social institutions, traditions, and practices are the root of discrimination against the “girl child.” Discrimination starts in the earliest stages of a girl’s life and continues through her adulthood. Girls are continually treated as inferior and are socialized to put themselves last; this neglect and discrimination leads to “a lifelong downward spiral of deprivation and exclusion from the social mainstream” (165).

There are many different mechanisms that precipitate and perpetuate this “spiral.” Education is one of these mechanisms. In 1995, 81 million girls had no access to primary school (166). Today, at least 132 million girls are out of school: 34.3 million of primary school age, 30 million of lower-secondary school age, and 67.4 million of upper-secondary school age (UNICEF). Furthermore, although school has the potential to be transformational, the Platform for Action emphasizes how gender-biased educational processes including “curricula, educational materials and practices, teachers’ attitudes and classroom interaction” serve to reinforce existing gender inequalities. Teachers are especially important as they — along with parents, teachers, and the media — can transmit conflicting and confusing messages on gender roles (165). For some girls, school can also be a place in which they are “less encouraged than boys to participate in and learn about the social, economic, and political functioning of society” (166). The result of this dynamic is that girls are offered fewer opportunities than boys to take part in decision making-processes.

Gender inequality is also perpetuated by discrimination in health services. Lack of access to nutrition, physical, and mental health services endangers a girl’s current and future health (166). In 1995, an estimated 450 million adult women in developing countries were experiencing stunted growth as a result of childhood malnutrition. Sadly, malnutrition remains a problem today; in 2016, 5.7% of adolescent girls were underweight (UNICEF). Additionally, youth, social pressures, lack of protective laws, and failure to enforce laws expose girls to different types of violence, particularly sexual violence. Girls are also more vulnerable to the “consequences of unprotected and premature sexual relations” (166). Early-child, as well as early marriage, results “continues to be an impediment to the economic, and social status of women” across the globe (167). UNICEF estimates that 650 million girls and women alive today were married as children, and around 12 million girls around the world are married each year.

The Platform for Action, combined with today’s statistics, admittedly paints a grim picture of the reality that girls around the world face today. The Platform for Action identified many different actions that governments needed to take to eliminate discrimination, economic exploitation, violence, and negative cultural attitudes against the “girl child.” It also identifies strategies for eliminating discrimination in education and health services, as well as promoting and protecting the rights of the “girl child.” Although there has been some improvement, it is clear that much more needs to be done to empower girls and ensure equal dignity and respect.

When I was at UNCSW62, one speaker identified discrimination against girls as a “humanitarian crisis.” To some, this term might seem extreme. The reality is that it is true. In The Episcopal Church, I have always been taught that all people were created in God’s image, that all people should be treated with dignity and respect, and that all people deserve love. The treatment of girls and women across the world today does not reflect these teachings. Women and girls are living through a humanitarian crisis because they do not receive the love that all of God’s people deserve.

So, what can you do about this? What can we do about this? These are questions that I often ask myself. When it is difficult to come up with an answer, difficult to draw any kind of inspiration, I try to think of what gives me hope. I teach a civics course to fifth graders in Boston Public Schools. My students — especially the girls — give me hope. They are engaged and involved, they care about what they are learning, and they give remarkably insightful answers. Last week, one girl even did the renegade after speaking quite eloquently to checks and balances. I was amazed.

Washington state voters’ decision to approve Referendum 90 earlier this week also gives me hope. R90 will require public schools to provide comprehensive sexual health education to all students. Sexual health education is critical for achieving gender equality. It allows girls to receive the information they need to make informed decisions about their bodies. Knowledge is power, and I am so happy that girls in my state will have both going forward.

The last thing that gave me hope this week was a historic election. Representation matters. It always has. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris — a Black woman and the first woman to be elected to the office — embodies the future. Girls of color and women of color are almost always made to feel small in spaces that matter. Harris, however, has demonstrated that anything is possible. Girls across the country can finally dare to dream. This is empowerment. This is what gives me hope.

So, as you think about what you can do to empower girls, I have a couple of suggestions. First, just listen. Girls’ voices are silenced too often. They deserve to speak, to be heard, and to be respected. Next, identify what you can do to change systems that perpetuate discrimination. Vote, write to your representative, or even go to a school board meeting. Finally, tell girls about your life and your job, especially if you identify as a woman. It is much easier for girls to dream about the future when they see themselves reflected in certain positions or when they have a mentor to guide them. These might seem like small actions in comparison to what is being done at the United Nations, but sometimes small actions are the perfect catalyst for change.

Girls deserve dignity, respect, and love. Take a moment, breathe, and get to work.

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About the author: Maria worships in the Diocese of Olympia and is a student at Harvard University, where she plans to concentrate in Government and Economics. Maria was a delegate to UNCSW 62 in 2018 and also served as a member of the Official Youth Presence at the 79th General Convention, where she gave the youth address. Maria will head her diocesan deputation at General Convention in 2021. Maria is passionate about women’s empowerment and creation care, and she has participated in the Diocese of Olympia’s Southern Social Justice Experience and Creation Care pilgrimages.