Tomorrow is World Population Day, a program of the United Nations’ World Population Fund. This year’s theme is investing in girls’ and women’s education. And it has got me thinking.
Having attended an all-girls school myself from grades 6-12, I have been finely attuned to the cause of women’s education and the power of educating girls in society. While living in Costa Rica, with its notorious social code of machismo, I focused a lot of attention on the messages that my young female students were receiving about their education. In a mostly male environment (about three quarters of my students were boys) the girls were often ignored or passed over in favor of a male student for everything from a raised hand to answer a question to the coveted position of president of the school. Even when this was not the case, and I don’t want to suggest that this was always the case or in any way a deliberate action, girls were taught that their place in society was in the home and caring for a family.
Girls in Costa Rica are groomed from a very young age to take part in the laborious and time consuming act of oficio – housework. Costa Rican society places a high value on order and cleanliness in the home and most women spend several hours a day cleaning their homes. This work is always done in the morning and young girls are not permitted to do anything else until all of the housework is finished. At the same time, the families in my town placed a strong emphasis on education and provided a lot of support at home so that all their children, boys and girls in equal measure, would succeed in school.
My fifteen-year-old host sister serves the perfect example of the conflict in values of women’s role in the family and the importance of education that I witnessed over and over in my small host town. While studying for a test one night, she was called from her room to the kitchen to pour her older brother something to drink while several family members (myself included) were all seated around the kitchen table. In that simple act, she was sent the message that it was more important for her to fulfill her familial duties first, and that studying came second.
On the other hand, more girls finish high school and attend university in Costa Rica than their male counterparts. Where is the balance to actively encourage girls education and success in the public sector and minimize gender stereotypes without undermining the value placed on family and family ties that is the cornerstone of Costa Rican society?
How do we encourage girls’ and women’s education in places where this type of achievement is ultimately in conflict with the basic values of a society? And should we? I believe that we should, but that it is also extremely important to ask the question.
Visit the UNFPA’s World Population Day site to learn more about the global action taking place tomorrow and what you can do to participate.
