I'm pretty shameless in admitting that I'm a big feminist. So here I am in a developing country where women are often viewed as second-class citizens, and you can bet that I see a lot of things that get me more than a little fired up (though I try to keep my mouth shut the majority of the time). As a white women, though men often treat me like a one-way ticket to America, I am generally not treated as though I am stupid or my thoughts don't matter, or with complete disrespect. For the Gambian women, though, its not the same story.
I talked a little about Islam in another entry. There is a relative abundance of religious tolerance in the Gambia. Most Muslim women just wear headscarves, and some women choose not to cover their heads at all, although these women often face reproaches from Muslim men. Still, anytime you go to the market or some similar, busy place, you are likely to see at least a couple of women in Burkas, veiled in black with only their eyes showing.
Today we toured an orphanage. The man who gave our tour told us that, upon reaching the age of fourteen, the young boys are sent to a youth camp, but the young girls stay at the orphanage and live in a separate house where they learn to cook and clean. When we asked why the girls are treated differently, he said that otherwise no one would want them as a wife. I just found it so sad that this was the most important goal in raising these girls.
Today we visited an orphanage where the assistant director assured us that all of the children receive education through secondary school. To try to reach the Millenium Development Goals, the Gambia is working hard to achieve universal primary education. In many families, if they cannot afford to send all of the children to school, only the boys will be educated. For this reason, Jammeh has instated a program in which he will pay for girls to attend school if their families cannot afford it. This phenomenon is very important, because it shows two things. First of all, the government is recognizing that, in order to achieve development, women need to be equal in Gambian society. Secondly, while this is beginning to be enforced on an institutional level, on a community and familial level women are still subservient.
Why is promoting women's rights such an important part of development? Its actually pretty simple. When women are empowered, they become responsible citizens who demand accountability from the government, people who are educated enough to read the newspaper, to think for themselves, and to vote responsibly. To empower women, all you have to do is educate them. Educate women on the same level as men, and they will enter into the workforce. You will have a more productive population. More people in the workforce equals more productivity, its relatively simple economics! These women will have economic power, which gives them autonomy from their husbands and fathers and thereby further empowers futures generations. Since they are more educated, these women will have fewer children - the fertility rate will fall. The women will exercise control over their own reproductive health and will choose to work rather than to have many children. This means that there will be more resources to spend on each child, and more money flowing back into the economy - it breaks the endless cycle of poverty. Finally, empowering women is crucial because they invest in the future of the nation. Women use the money they make to educate their children and to make sure they are healthy, whereas men are less likely to invest their money in these ways.
My development professor said that development is natural, that no one would put their own hand in scalding hot water. So I just want to know why any country would choose to treat half of their population in such a self-defeating manner?
