Education for Girls – Marilyn R. Gardner

“How much do you know about girls?” is the title of a quiz that National Public Radio published online a couple of days ago. The quiz is only seven questions and comes from a special series that NPR is doing called #15Girls. The series takes the listener from El Salvador to India; from the soccer field to a school for child brides. It is an eye-opening look into the lives of girls around the world.

Here are some other things I’ve learned through the series:

Worldwide, there are 600 million girls between the ages of 10-19.
Nearly half of those live in 7 countries.
The United States has a lower percentage of women in Congress than Pakistan and China do in their national assemblies.
One fifth of the world’s adolescent girls live in India.

There is so much more. The story on the school for child brides in India gives a perspective that most in the Western world have never heard. The story of how a girl’s choice in El Salvador means life or death. There are stories on soccer, education, marriage, and cool girls. To make it easy, just click on the pictures and the link will take you directly to the site.

It’s not all sad. These girls are strong and resilient, and they want to change things for other girls. Take a listen and weigh in on what you think through the comments.

See the entire series here: #15GirlsSeries and click here to take the quiz.

Girls start the day with a prayer at the Veerni Institute in Jodhpur, India. It's a boarding school where nearly half the students are child brides. — Girls start the day with a prayer at the Veerni Institute in Jodhpur, India. It’s a boarding school where nearly half the students are child brides.

A girl looks away from the body of an assassinated man, who was killed by a gang member in San Salvador.

Warning: This is a rant

Malala Yousafzai is 14. She lives in the Swat Valley of Pakistan, a place where our family spent many lovely vacations. And while Swat is lovely for vacationers, it’s not an easy place to live by any standard.

Malala is not your typical 14-year-old. At age 11 she was writing a blog diary for the BBC under a pseudonym and two years later she was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize for her work promoting the right for girls in Pakistan to get an education.

And yesterday she was shot — shot in the head and the neck and is now fighting for life at a hospital in Peshawar. The Taliban proudly claimed the shooting; she has been on a hit list for over a year for her work promoting education and rights for girls. They saw her as a threat, a threat to an ideology and way of life, a threat to who they are. You can read about the shooting here.

It got me thinking about a lot of things. About courage — she stood so boldly for what she believed. About extremism — a 14 year-old girl is a threat in what universe? About apathy — the 14-year-olds I know are interested in boys, sex, Justin Bieber, and New Direction. I’ll take Malala any day of the week. Standing up for education is somewhat nobler than looking forward to getting birth control pills from your school nurse.

I know that’s harsh and I want it to be.

Because I’m a little tired of this country and our whining. I’m tired of our apathy. I’m tired of watching teenagers and adults who don’t give a rat’s ass for the world they live in and I see it every day. I’m tired of us thinking we have all the answers for a world where 14 year-olds get shot for believing in education. I’m tired of the election and tired of not having worthy leaders. I’m tired of a world that condemns the attack one day, and goes back to being just as awful the next.

I’m tired of myself being a part of this because I’d like to be a little more like Malala. I’d like to be braver, I’d like to stand up boldly for what I believe, I’d like a good dose of 14 year-old courage.

How about you? What are you tired of? What do you want more courage to change?

Readers – Thanks to CAB reader, Debbie Wood, here is a link to an interview with Malala and her father when she was eleven.

http://portal.sliderocket.com/BBVXH/Hoshyar-Foundation