Girlhood Matters
Pandora’s box is said to contain all the evil in the world. The Black Death. The Spanish Flu. Covid-19. These are all extensions of the contents of Pandora’s Box. Pandora’s curiosity subjected the world to an eternity of plague and death but the biggest crisis humanity still faces to date is something Pandora herself would have fallen victim to. Gender inequality.
Gender inequality is the biggest crisis humanity faces because it is not a one-dimensional problem and cannot be solved simply by the invention of a vaccine.
Our world is built on the foundation of rules and rights, without which humanity would fall into a state of chaos and despair. Gender inequality mocks and laughs in the faces of these rules and rights as women all over the world are denied basic human rights.
The right to freedom of expression? A renowned author such as Jane Austen found the need for a pen name because of the consequences she would face as a woman in literature trying to express herself.
The right to education? Forget education. Young girls are trapped in predatory relationships with men old enough to be their father. How are women expected to educate themselves when society believes that all they are good for is bearing children and tending to their husband?
The right to healthcare? Women are criticized heavily for anything they choose to do with their body. God forbid a woman seeks healthcare after an abortion or plastic surgery.
This crisis may seem to be falling short in the face of disastrous diseases and viruses like Covid-19 or the Bubonic Plague because these plagues have resulted in the deaths of thousands, if not, millions. But are we choosing to forget the children who died before they could even take a glimpse at the sky, simply because they had the unfortunate luck of being born a girl in a male-dominated world? How could it have gotten so bad that few countries had to ban finding out the sex after conception? It is not just the deaths of babies but also of women who did not receive proper maternal or reproductive care and of women who had to bear gender-based violence.
Education is key in our society. The reason the world has developed greatly in the past decades is because of research and technological advancements, both of which would not have been possible without education. Imagine the people we could cure, if women were allowed to explore their mind and create vaccines. Imagine the chemical elements that would be uncovered, the works of art that would be written, and the diseases that would be conquered. Imagine the lengths we would go to, as a society, if women were not denied the right to education.
This picture shows 29 of the world’s most brilliant minds. Twenty eight are male. One is female. Marie Curie has revolutionized the world of medicine and radiation with her findings and research. Think of all the other women that could have been in this picture if they were allowed to learn. The number would have been greater than twenty nine.
Women are trapped within the cages that society shoves them into and even those thin enough to pass through the bars are not free because there will always be some reason, some mistake, some blame to put on women. This is one of the biggest crises because women deserve to be seen and their mental health matters. Humans are creatures of empathy so why is this empathy lost when it comes to women?
This is not just a crisis of the past. This is not just a crisis of the present. This will be a crisis of the future if action is not taken.
‘The men start wars yet Troy hates Helen
Women’s hearts are lethal weapons’
:History of Man, Maisie Peters
‘All day, everyday, therapist, mother, maid
Nymph, then a virgin, nurse and a servant
Just an appendage, live to attend him
So that he never lifts a finger’
:labour, Paris Paloma
By: Sneha Reddy Mukkamalla
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