Mobile phones - literacy not required...

The recent history of education in Iraq is full of ups and downs, and illiteracy, especially for women, remains a problem.

I’d like to imagine seeing life and the world like through the eyes of an uneducated person. But I think this is much harder than imagining it through a genius’ eyes. I know so many uneducated people – the only thing they can read and understand is the clock. I wonder how they can use mobile phones…? They can use their contacts to dial, and they seem to know who is calling them! Maybe after lots of mistakes, they just figure out how to use their phones. In fact, it could even be a kind of adventure for them!
Maybe when you get tired of what you’re doing or when your tendency to think too much makes you unhappy, you wish you were one of the uneducated people – that you knew nothing. I think sometimes you’re luckier to have less knowledge. I would say, “Less knowledge means more comfort.” That is why I think that the less educated do enjoy life much more than those with an academic background.

On average, the most uneducated people are among the seniors, especially among older women. Men always had a better and more comfortable life in the Middle East because of their unlimited freedoms. In my third entry, I talked about education for girls starting with the very young and showed connections between our system and problems within our society.

Some have to take out a loan to cover monthly expenses - even for basics

At the moment, we have obvious educational gaps among young people. Many of them have not been to school for various reasons. Many had to work for their families from an early age, and some of the families did not enroll their kids in school because they did not think that the school would teach their children what they needed to learn. Or they thought that the government wouldn’t be able to give them a job in the future anyway.

Another issue is that many in the young generation leave school and start doing another job because they can’t earn enough money monthly even if they were to get a job after graduating. An obvious example is that new teachers earn about $500 a month, but if you work as a freelance worker, you would earn$25 per day, totaling $750 per month. Many people think that they are right to quit school because the salary system for government jobs is not fair. Your salary does not depend on how many hours of work you do per week, but, rather, depends on what role you have or where you work. There are fears of getting old and realizing that you have spent your whole life on a governmental assignment, but you’re still dreaming of life’s basic necessaries like having a car, a normal house and enough money to get by. Some have to take out loans just for living expenses, so it’s clear that saving money doesn’t even come into question.

Gender education starts from a very early age

I felt like my last entry on women and education didn’t cover everything. There was one vital part missing: how do women themselves feel about the opportunities they have in Argentina?

In reading Emmy’s entry, I decided to take the question further: what is the role of women in society and why is it important that they get an education? I am convinced that societies should give free access to education to everyone in an equal way. However, I found that I struggled in justifying why – and I’m not the only one.

I asked Mariana and Estefanía from German class, my sister Pilar and a colleague, Isabel, to tell me why they thought women should have an education. This is what they said.

For the younger girls – the first three of the lot – it was difficult to nail down their ideas. I believe this has something to do with how accepted the concept of women being inferior to men is in the professional world. The problem with sexist thinking in Argentina is that more often than not it comes from women themselves, and this attitude is passed on to the children. Also, some of the things they said applied not only to women, but to people in general. For instance, Mariana emphasized education as a key factor in knowing and using your civil rights. This is true for any human being. Pilar brought up independence, which, in the context of women’s history in Argentina, is especially relevant. But, generally speaking, it is something desirable for anyone.

(Click here to hear what my friends had to say.)

I believe (and I had trouble putting this idea into words myself) that living in a masculine-oriented society has deprived us citizens to think of a system that can organize itself around both masculine and feminine ways of thinking. Because, yes, we are equal in our right and obligations towards the other, but we are first and foremost different. And that difference is a source of richness.

There are hundreds of studies that describe the differences in how men and women think. The masculine mind may be more result-oriented and practical. A feminine mind is more sensitive to personal relationships and worried about building a harmonious social environment. Educated women, inasmuch as they are given the power and place in society they have earned, can help to construct a more inclusive and tolerant society.

I think the real change could take hold when women have not only secured equal opportunities to study and develop professionally, but when womanhood and manhood are both appreciated for their unique contributions to the establishment of a society. The way I see it, it takes years of work, a dedication that starts at home, continues inside the classroom and in the school, and has to be backed up by corresponding legislation.

Equal rights for girls - and boys!

We often make the mistake of equating the definition of gender with women. ‘Gender equality,’ ‘gender and education,’ ‘gender and…’ almost always mean women and fighting for the rights of women. From the higher authorities such as the UN to the basic family level, war has been waged almost literally to protect the rights of the female gender – and rightfully so. I am certain that the strides that have been made even in the western world with regards to the emancipation of women would not have been possible had there been no sacrifices made before.

Nevertheless, I tend to think that male children have been forgotten! The emphasis on girls and their education has shifted the focus away from boys. Organizations troop in from the West and thousands more mushroom locally to protect girls and to promote the empowerment of women. But what about the boys? I feel like it may get to the point that the education of boys will need the same support from others in society beyond the family!

I think we’ve come a long way. I know that modern day parents – especially in urban areas and in my generation – do not discriminate between boys and girls. Schools and even the government have made deliberate decisions to make it easier for girls to attend schools. Just recently, Prime Minister Raila Odinga was raising money for sanitary towels and undergarments for girls in disadvantaged homes so that they would go to school. Also, the government has lowered the pass-mark for girls so that they can get into university with lower marks.

I think that from the outset, girls and boys do not have the same playing field. That lowers expectations for girls and women, but not when it comes to employment. Those who have gotten used to these kinds of favors may have difficulties in the job market.

Same schools, but different standards for girls and boys

Despite these measures taken by the government and other organizations, the challenges and the difference still exist in what Maria refers to as ‘social contracts’ in her blog. Hellgurd also mentions something very interesting. He notes that it becomes more difficult for boys and girls to be friends as they grow older. I find that true as well. As women enter adulthood, society (mostly the men) expects the woman to fit ‘into her shoes’ and ‘not break the rules’ set by society. The situation may not be as bad as in Iraq, but there are still career areas in Kenya and that are the preserve of men. For instance, civil engineering, jobs where heavy machines are used along with other jobs are considered the male turf.

I believe the onus is on women to set an agenda for themselves and the other girls around them. In my opinion, girls should not be awarded any special favors – especially when it does not help in removing barriers to a girls’ education. Additionally, there needs to be an equal emphasis on boys’ education. After all, we do not live in a world with only women!

Gender equality - a lot has changed, but more needs to be done

I wanted to write about women in Iraq this weekend, so I decided to meet with some from different walks of life. That way I could have a better sense of what females are feeling and thinking about in life and how much freedom they feel like they have. Now I want to describe some of the highlights.

First, I met a friend who teaches at a primary school. She’s married and has a kid. She is quite pleased with the freedom women have in this century.

“This freedom is still not enough – though much better than what we had in past decades,” she said.

“I think it’s better for girls to get married to someone whose occupation is the same as hers or at least similar – that way they understand each other better. I have a child, though, so working can be a problem because I have to send him to a nursery, and I’m not sure whether he will be as well behaved as I want. But I have no choice,” my friend added.

Me, conducting interviews

Next I talked with an unemployed young woman who graduated from a media college three years ago. She got a government job at one point but is very upset with what happened.

“The work depended sometimes on whether they were in the mood to employ you. Other times it just depended on what they thought about your specialty and whether it was popular,” she said angrily.

The third one was an old woman who never got to go to school when she was young. She had tears in her eyes when she talked to me.

“Son,” she started to say very sweetly, “When I was young, I lived in a village with my family. We had no school in the village – we didn’t even know exactly what school was. It was just the mosques that would teach our men and boys how to learn to write and read. Sometimes they had to leave their villages to do so. Back then, very few women were allowed to study, and that was only in the big cities,” she said.

A brighter future for the next generation?

“I feel very sad that I can’t enjoy this life because I feel like a blind person: I can’t read or write or join in modern life. But, fortunately, I can see my kids and future generations living full lives now. I remember sometimes that a letter would come for someone in the village, and there was no one to read it. Instead, we had to wait until the men came back. In those days, that was very normal, but when I compare it with now, I feel like it was such a disaster,” she continued with a heavy heart.

I think these three examples showcase the status of women in general in my country. They also show that change has been made over time. I hope we can have a better life among these changes, but we still have to try to do more. As the young generation, we should work on changing how the people in government think.

Carolina learned a trade in order to secure some freedom

I had dinner with my boyfriend’s parents last Sunday. It’s always just the four of us. I have to admit that sometimes I lead the conversation into his mother, Carolina, telling me the story of how she started dating Horacio, Diego’s father. It’s not because of the love and romance involved, though. The story of how she met her husband touches on issues of how she secured some independence and got her first job.

Carolina is a 65-year-old Italian immigrant. She came to Argentina when she was seven, together with her six siblings, mother, father and extended family – all in an effort to escape poverty. She didn’t speak Spanish, and her parents couldn’t help her with homework since they didn’t know the language themselves. So she started first grade three years later than she was supposed to. Carolina also has an older sister, Filomena, who had to stay at home and help with the housekeeping. When Caro finished sixth grade, she was fifteen years old. She was supposed to stay at home “and do all the silly things there were for us women to do,” she told me, “Like ironing overalls and other stuff.”

Filo begged her to stay home since there were a lot of men to take care of, and she needed help. Instead, Carolina learned a skill. She went to beauty school for a year and then found a job at a salon in the neighborhood. Her family wouldn’t have allowed her to work, so nobody but her mother knew about the job – after all, jobs were something only men were supposed to have back then. Carolina gave the money she earned to her mother and helped with family expenses. Even though they worked a lot, they were still very poor.

When she thinks back on herself and Filo in those days, Carolina says, “I was able to choose, and I married a good man. My sister, on the other hand, didn’t. She got out of that family house with whomever she could manage.”

Child or career? The question is still a turning point for many women

These days, things are much different. Access to higher education is determined by economic power, not gender. Middle class women not only study in universities, they also have careers. But even though over fifty years have passed since Carolina started working, change is slow. There is still a big difference in wages: A woman makes 35 percent less than a man carrying the same responsibilities. And in some circles, there are no women in positions of power (as Kathrin describes is the case for Germany).

Today, you have educated women who have careers and high ambitions, but many men and women still expect females to have kids and stay at home to take care of them. It’s the professional path and social contracts that bring the issues of inequality between boys and girls. As a woman wishing to become a mother eventually, I ask myself whether having a baby will stop me from doing what I love. Obstacles come partly from labor law in Argentina. The way I see it, it also has a lot to do with breaking mental barriers and endowing highly educated women with responsibility. Giving educated women the place they deserve takes a combination of effort from family, society and co-workers.