* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Terrine Friday currently teaches schoolchildren in London and is completing her MSc in gender, media and culture at the London School of Economics. She holds a BA in journalism from Concordia University in Montreal and is a former Reuters journalist. The opinions expressed are her own.
The United Nations (U.N.) stated 2012 International Women’s Day theme is “Rural Women: Ending Poverty and Hunger” and its secretary-general is calling on “all partners to recognize the contribution of rural women to our world, and to help them do even more for our shared future.”
In order to highlight awareness of rural women living in poverty, “the U.N. General Assembly adopted resolution 62/136 on 18 December 2007, through which the International Day of Rural Women was established.
Marked annually on 15 October, the International Day of Rural Women is intentionally celebrated on the eve of World Food Day to highlight rural women’s role in food production and food security.”
Of course it’s always important to keep global issues at the forefront of public consciousness. But are we really doing more than rallying behind intangible concepts, celebrating resolutions and regurgitating statistics year after year?
My main question is this: is it possible to “fix” gender disparity for rural women if it exists in an overarching system of disparity that seems little improved in the past 15 years? Let’s remove our gaze from the developing world for a moment and consider how we teach children.
When I ask my students why they should do their homework and (try their best to) do well in school, they answer so that they can get a good job. Sometimes they may answer so that they are not penalised by being forbidden extra-curricular activities or so that their parents don’t get vexed. I rarely, if ever, hear them say so that they may change the world.
Now let’s consider the role of education for a moment.
Western conceptions assumed that increased access to education for girls would alleviate (some) gender disparity in the developing world.
But the failure of the Girl Effect, for example, shows that ensuring all girls worldwide have access to education is not enough.
Is it possible that culture supersedes development models that put the onus on gendered subjects in the developing world?
The first step to fixing a problem is the ability to identify it. Starting in small but effective ways with the world around us is a tangible way to start the ripple effect.
So, what next? Maybe inspiring children to make ethical and critical decisions has something to do with it.