-Gas Prices are Higher
-Tuition prices are higher
- Food prices are higher
-The housing market is in
shambles
-So is the government
-And it’s nearly impossible to
get a job anymore.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the things that I
complain about, or the times when I have it really bad.
-Times when I get into a stupid
fight with my boyfriend
-Or when I’m down to my last $100
dollars in my bank account and I have to call my parents and ask for money
-Or when I have to do so much
homework that it keeps me up all night and I’m a zombie at my 8:30am class (if
I even make it all)
-Or when I’ve spent weeks trying
to get a job and have nothing to show for it.
But even when I’m going through all of that, I still have it
really good. I’m in a loving
relationship, I have parents with money to feed me, I have a right and a means
to education (thanks parents with money!) and even if I didn’t have a job ( I
finally found one after five months of looking) I have the opportunity to get
one and make a living for myself.
Many girls in the developing world don’t have these
luxuries. They rarely get a good
education, marry young (12 years old young), have more children than they can
afford to take care of and don’t often have very good family lives. Not to mention the risk of illnesses like HIV
and Malaria and the fact that they live in abject poverty.
But that isn’t the way it has to be. All we need to do is invest in girls. It’s called the Girl Effect
Well, not all we need to do, but it’s certainly a good way to
make a big difference.
Watch this video
No, seriously. Watch
it. I’ll wait
Have you watched it yet?
That is some pretty amazing stuff. But why only girls?
There are two reasons that girls are the key to changing the
developing world. The first is that they
are living in societies where they are treated as second-class citizens and if
half of your population is marginalized, things aren’t going to be very good
for society or the economy. Also, when a
girl in the developing world earns an income, she will reinvest 90% of it into
her family, compared to 30-40% for a man (Chris Fortson, “Women’s Rights Vital
for Developing World,” Yale News Daily 2003.) So giving a girl an education and
putting her in a position where she can earn an income is beneficial to everyone.
Seriously, just think of the trickle effect of this thing.
Now, I know a lot of you are going to get pretty jaded about this, question the numbers or the optimism of the movement, or whatever. But that is no excuse. The fact is that if you are a human being who cares just a little bit about other people, then these girls deserve your attention and your help.
Want some more information?
The Girl Effect. It’s
mind-blowing, world-changing stuff.
It’s no big deal, just the future of humanity
If you want to read more about this, click here to see the
movement of bloggers writing about The Girl Effect
Posts
1 comments:
Love it! Thanks for contributing your post. I've been really struck by how many bloggers are writing about their own awareness of how good they have it - awareness raised by this campaign. I think it's so important - because that consciousness of how lucky we are inspires a sense that we should help and we have room in our lives to help.
Thanks for being a part of this effort!
Tara
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