Because I am a girl

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Because I am a Girl - Home

I think this is a SUPER AMAZING campaign.

thought this was a good place to post it… :slight_smile:

So many people in our culture believe that there is no need to invest in good education for their daughters.. why? cus at the end of the day they are going to stay at home and raise children… however, statistics and research actually present a very different view… what reality is.

**It’s a good question: why focus on girls? **
Aren’t boys important too?

All children are important, have the same rights and deserve the same opportunities, however research and field experience shows a specific focus on girls is needed for a few reasons.

  1. Girls in the developing world do not enjoy the same opportunities as boys. For example, they are more likely to suffer from malnutrition, die before the age of five and be forced to get married as a teenager.
  2. Girls who get the right opportunities are more likely to pass on the benefits to their family and community, for example:[LIST=1]
  3. Women will reinvest 90% of their income back into the household whereas men reinvest 30%-40%
  4. Children of a woman who has completed primary school are less likely to die before the age of 5 than children of mothers who have no schooling.

[/LIST]

  1. Investment in girls can improve a country’s economy. Statistics show that an increase in the number of girls in secondary education boosts a country’s wealth because many will enter the work force as wage earners who then have more money to spend.

Quite simply, investing in the rights of girls is one of the best ways to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty that traps many people around the world.

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Re: Because I am a girl

Very nice...good post!

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Re: Because I am a girl

Of course - this research has been around for a long time. It’s just men choose not to give a hoot. The Pakistani government really gives a sh** about girls. :k:

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SOME men PCG. :naraz:

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Re: Because I am a girl

Excellent post! I wish more people in this section would actually do something for girls/women’s education and economic empowerment rather than simply complain about inane matters.

I read your link with great interest. Some of the information is really compelling. I hope you don’t mind if i mention another organization that is closer to Pakistan and to my heart:

https://www.ikat.org/projects/cai-programs/

I had met with Greg through a college friend of mine who was in Pakistan looking to climb the K2. This was well before “Three cups of Tea” was published. Even though Greg might come across rather pompous to some people, his commitment and work for the children of Afghanistan & Pakistan can not be discounted. I was already on a Pakistan trek when I had that chance encounter and we were soon on our way to Gultari where he was constructing his latest school. The process of building a school, a girls school no less, is incredibly complicated even in the remotest parts of Pakistan North. Besides doing detailed demographic studies, gaining approvals from the village government/elders, the hardest task is actually convincing mothers and fathers to send their daughters to school (Are they teaching Christianity? I don’t want my young daughter to leave the village!). I suspect that it would have been much easier for an Islamic Pakistani organization to gain greater acceptance in the area. Urdu is somewhat spoken and understood in the area, so we made best attempts to get the project off the ground. I was there for about 4 weeks and I became a fan of CAI. Unlike some of the other NGOs both Paki and Foreign, CAI teaches practical skills like basic Urdu/English, simplified math not grand theories of physics or sonnets of Shakespeare. I remember seeing mothers bringing their daughters and a few decided hang around in the back to watch what was going on when classes started. One of the mothers literally had tears in her seeing her daughter learn the basic numbers, that’s when I knew for sure that this project was for real and would be a success. You have to be there and in person to get the real gut feeling for the project.

Two of my good friends (1 Paki, 1 Swiss) and I looking to start a micro-finance initiative in the Sindh province. We were actually impressed by one of Akhtar Hameed Khan’s papers on microfinance, which incidentally also inspired M. Yunus of Grameen Bank. Part of the challenge of bring forth a microcredit institution is determining the feasibility, constraints, and planning against the popular tide. We all have picked up the slack by taking a few classes here and there, talking with experts in the field, and tapping our networks. Even with that in mind I can’t imagine the launch date being any earlier than 3rd qtr FY2011.

Anyways returning to the main point, what girls and women in impoverished areas need is both education AND capital. While it might be great to have a young girl learn how to read and add, but what good is it if the biases of her remote Pakistani village prevent her from earning money from employment? Which is why our model is an integrative approach that would collaborate with the pre-existing footprints of education related NGOs to bring forward a series business/credit education for women with basic skills, along with the funds to bring forth micro level entrepreneurship.

We have already done 2 feasibility studies and the one in basic artisan/handicraft centered has shown a very strong triple point convergence. It truly is a win-win-win. Money in the hands women = better childhood outcomes for her offspring, that’s proven..we’re going beyond that by putting ideas in action.

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Re: Because I am a girl

Ok. SOME men. MORE men than need be.

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Pak-one, we here have tried to get involved in such causes, but a big obstacle in the way of people REALLY getting involved is the utter lack of safety in travelling around in Pakistan. Even if I were to do what we did in Haiti - hire 7 armed gunman to escort us around the countryside with 8 SUV's and a number of spare tires for the rocky road...we'd still get hijacked or shot at. We'd still wander into some threatening wadera's territory.

These people are under control of their retarded waderas. Waderas who will shoot you, rape you , maim you to prevent their population from getting educated. Plenty of abandoned projects in interior sindh and such areas, because folks were run out of the area.

Until there is some control of violence in the country, these projects are seeming less and less likely. What the heck did they do in Swat in the name of Islam? How many girls were denied education? Thrashed? Threatened to stay home? They totally took over a woman's medical college up there.

You make progress, and these jaahils tear it apart.

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Re: Because I am a girl

*Pak-one, we here have tried to get involved in such causes, but a big obstacle in the way of people REALLY getting involved is the utter lack of safety in travelling around in Pakistan. Even if I were to do what we did in Haiti - hire 7 armed gunman to escort us around the countryside with 8 SUV's and a number of spare tires for the rocky road...we'd still get hijacked or shot at. We'd still wander into some threatening wadera's territory. *

I'm going to blunt PCG, but that is the biggest BS and cop out that MANY Pakistani people have used to not do anything. Maybe you should read up on Greg Mortenson and all the crap he had to go through, but he was genuinely committed and not a "touchy feely do gooder." In fact I respect his bluntness and focus.

I'm not going to delve deeper on the wadera issue due to 1. Our planning accounts for safety issues 2. there are more than enough behind the scene discussions going around regarding this very issue. But I assure you, we are working to overcome it by bringing in bigger stakeholders in the process. Sure our actual start might be pushed around,and success rate might not hit the projecte 80% but but we KNOW Pakistan and we'll work through it.

**These people are under control of their retarded waderas. Waderas who will shoot you, rape you , maim you to prevent their population from getting educated. Plenty of abandoned projects in interior sindh and such areas, because folks were run out of the area.

Until there is some control of violence in the country, these projects are seeming less and less likely. What the heck did they do in Swat in the name of Islam? How many girls were denied education? Thrashed? Threatened to stay home? They totally took over a woman's medical college up there.

You make progress, and these jaahils tear it apart.**

No one said it would be easy and it's not. The main question you should ask is: Is it worth it? If you think it is, then you modify things to work within the system. I worked with another organization in another part of Pakistan for 6 months, where folks had similar concerns, but things got done. I actual experience with the real taliban not some pseudo-facist thugs that held Swat under the gun. So this is not based out some idealism, but grounded in reality.

Maybe you'll recognize us a few a years down the road, maybe you won't.. regardless we will be there.

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Re: Because I am a girl

Anyways I have said enough about this matter.

Please support CAI (Central Asia Initiative) as it is on the ground and consistently operating in some of the most "dangerous" areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. It's so easy to sit back and be complacent but do not forget that any one of us could have been born in a place where girls going to school or women being entrepreneurs was simply not allowed. To break this cycle of REAL oppression of woman and not the "his family does not respect me" kind, I ask you all to step up and DO SOMETHING!

Celebrity pics
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Re: Because I am a girl

u can always start from somethign small.. maybe by even sponsoring kids in pakistan?

The hubz and i have two kids in pakistan... inshallah one day, maybe on my next visit we'll go see them.

I think every little bit helps. The organisation that i go through (and BecauseIamGirl is a subset of it) is Plan.. and they do a lot of work in pakistan as well... it doesnt HAVE to be a pakistani organisaiton... but it is a wonderful thought. One day Inshallah, we'll get there too. I would LOVE to go back and do just that... but as PCG mentioned... safety is such a crucial factor

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these wadere laug are the biggest scum on the planet, me thinks. Not all i guess... but man, a lot of them surely are.

The men need to be casterated... and the women need education. It is a must

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Re: Because I am a girl

It starts at home. Look the Covention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely accepted and ratified convention there is. However signing a legal document is very different from changing the attitudes at home. You can make all the laws you want but people will still break them if they feel like it. Pakistan is a perfect example.

The lack of female education stems for a lack of female role-models in Pakistani society as well as households that do not place female education first. That is the fault of both the mother and father. Note that in Pakistani society it is the mothers who also agree with the concept that women need not be educated as in some cases they are not educated themselves.

If you wish to change the situation for the girl child you must start at home and in the community. All forms of revolutionary change do not come from the top up, but from the grassroots level.

Now to clarify a problem in the discussion above me. The concept of Wadera is pretty dominant in Sindh and Punjab. Not in NWFP (god I hate that name) and Balochistan. Each set of provinces has different socio-political dynamics and lumping them all together is simply a failure to understand the grassroots problem.

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The lack of female education stems for a lack of female role-models in Pakistani society as well as households that do not place female education first. That is the fault of both the mother and father. Note that in Pakistani society it is the mothers who also agree with the concept that women need not be educated as in some cases they are not educated themselves.

I am not too sure about the lack of female role models, but I do agree that the resistance does come from some parents. What some of the liberal do gooders don't realize is that if a school in built in Village X, they may not see a mob of parents rushing to sign up their young sons or daughters. Besides other types of resistance, many of the parents need the sons or daughters fro practical matters such as housekeeping or doing menial tasks.

Now to clarify a problem in the discussion above me. The concept of Wadera is pretty dominant in Sindh and Punjab. Not in NWFP (god I hate that name) and Balochistan. Each set of provinces has different socio-political dynamics and lumping them all together is simply a failure to understand the grassroots problem.

Absolutely, I am going to go father and mention that not all waderas are the evil blood suckers described here and even those that might be - have certain (valid from their pov) concerns that *may *be mitigated depending on the rigt package being presented to them. Beyond theory, our pilot has been able to get 7 "wadero" type local leaders to sign on to the project. Now 7 might seem small but we're talking about a combined area of 32,512 km and approximately 135,000 people being effected. The ripple effect is enormous. As I said before "it's not safe" or "there is too much danger" argument does not fly. I mean we're talking about Pakistan not sub-Saharan Africa or Haiti here.

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Re: Because I am a girl

when you educate a man you educate only one individual. when you educate a female you educate a family (as she will use her knowledge to educate her kids).

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regarding education, i think the 12 years high school+4 years university standard model works in the US, but in other countries, having people out of the workforce or household for 22 years is not really a viable option.

to be more accomodating to the families who need their children during the day, schools can be open for a short period; say, 8-12 or something like that. some people might argue that children need more than 4 hours of education a day, but 4 hours is doable for the vast majority of people while 8 hours might not be.

actually, i am in favor of changing the education system in the US as well but that is another post.

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^ Huh?!!? Come again?

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LOL instead of backspace i accidentally deleted a whole paragraph. well my point was in Pakistan lots of girls dont attend school bc they are needed to help in the house. but if school is a very short chunk of their day, then they can go to school and still help out in the house.

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Re: Because I am a girl

^ Nope, thats not the reason behind people not sending their girls to school.

My Mother-in-law's kaam wali brings her daughter for cleaning and when we tell her to send the girl to school, she says "Yeh parh likh kar kiya karegi bibi.... issay yehi kaam karna hai saari umar...... khwamukhwah dimagh kharaab ho jaaye ga" They don't send the girls to school even when we assure them that we will pay for the expenses. And the lady's husband says "no my daughter will not go to school" and you can't do anything about it.

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That really sucks, but i dont think thats not not the reason...there can be lots of reasons but ultimately it comes down to, if someone doesnt want education or values it, they wont have it.

I guess she feels the way that the society is set up, the daughter will end up going into the family business any way because no one will give her a chance. Being a child of a kaam-wali would probably earn her lots of scorn and being treated terribly by other kids and even adults. Dimagh kharab ho jaye ga b/c she thinks she's capable of being better..

I dont know, that's what I think, others can shed better light on this.

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MIAinVA : The kaamwali's I've dealt with in Karachi had the same attitude. We offer to pay, and they still don't want to send them to school.

A lot of it has to do with male dominance, period. Its not money, its not blind hatred for education, its just that they know if their women go to school, then "dimaagh kharab ho jayga" and next thing they know, these women will be running their lives - its a power issue.