Hypothetically, I Can Do Anything. Hypothetically
In Pitts’ (2013) essay “Words of Wisdom From a Teen,” readers are introduced to Malala, a teenager in Pakistan. Malala was active in making education an expectation, a right, even, for girls in her country.
Malala utilized blogging to criticize the restrictions on women and girls becoming educated, leading to her becoming a campaigner for women’s rights, especially in education. Malala was on her way to school one day when a man with a gun bordered her school bus and asked who Malala was, and although none of the students spoke, their eyes told the gunman who his target was. Malala miraculously survived a gunshot to her left eye. Two more bullets were in a hand of a student and the arm or another. One of the men involved has died, and there are two other men that are still being looked for. This crime was in a third world country. Women are worried about their futures, and of their rights.
Pitts takes Malala’s story and relates it to his daughter, in America (p. 1). We do have gender gaps and restrictions are placed on women for the sole reason being that they are female and not male. Pitts reflects something I think that every parent with girls in America thinks about at least once in their childhood: Girls in America will not be shot for getting an education; we will, however, be introduced into a world of gender gaps.
We think of gender gaps in education as being a problem that third world countries need to address; however, equal learning is still a problem even here in America.
Malala is a peacemaker, even towards the terrorists that tried to kill her. Malala has been on shows such as the Daily Show, talking about her work and what it has done to her. When she spoke on the Daily Show about being targeted for death, she spoke about what she would do if she was targeted again. ‘Just take a shoe and hit him’ she said at first, but then everyone watching her could see her astound thousands of adults when she opened her mouth again. Malala wanted to fight the terrorist not with her fists, but with the education that she was fighting to receive. She wanted to provide opportunities even for her attacker’s daughter, and for the world to have the opportunity for equal education. Malala is fighting through education for what she believes is right, and that has led her to fight through peaceful ways, telling her listeners and her attackers about the importance of education. Malala has found a way to show the importance of education even to those who would kill her to see her fail.
While this crime is an issue in third world countries, I do not worry about what I can or cannot do. Here in America, I have a world of opportunities at my feet. Hypothetically, I can do anything, go anywhere, and be anyone that I will to be. In theory, I do have equal opportunities to learn the same as men, but I am not encouraged or expected to take these opportunities the way that men are. Don’t get me wrong, going to school, or voicing my will to exercise my right to education will not earn a bullet in my head the way it did for Malala; however, voicing my rights to education or my will to learn will get me laughed at, comments that I don’t have to, or voices ringing that there is no one here to impress. My goal with education is not to impress anyone else; instead, my goal with education is to impress myself, to better myself, and to bring me to equal grounds with men.
Like Malala, my education, while expected of myself, is not expected by my society. I am expected to go to school, just like boys, but I am not held to nearly the same standard that they are. My high school in mid-America was one that I would consider progressive for the most part, and still if I were to step into a welding class, the boys stare at me expecting me to tell them I have the wrong room. When my best friend in high school stepped into her upper-level math and science classes at our high school, I can hear a chorus of sighs in the back, including one from the teacher, from outside of the classroom because they expected to have to dumb the class down to her level. I am expected to stay in the mediocre classes, or only to excel in classes based on communication or “easy” courses. The attitude of society is “Go easy on me, I’m a girl,” instead of a fair attitude towards both genders.
The problem continues in girls because we are expected to pretty instead of smart. Just because a girl is pretty, doesn’t mean that she cannot be smart too. I am a pretty girl, my biggest goal in life could be a trophy wife. My biggest goal in life for a long time was just that. That idea formed in high school after two words were muttered to me every time my hand went up. Many of my friends in high school told me to stay pretty whenever I asked a question in class, attempting to learn the material that they already understood. “Stay pretty.” Encouraging. Staying pretty made me feel like I was allowed to dumb myself down because I was pretty. Stay pretty is not something that a male would hear from his classmates when he raised a hand, so why did I hear it every time my hand went up? Was it a sign of encouragement, a dig, or a foundation for a lifelong plan in my head?
For any Grey’s Anatomy watcher such as myself, Izzie Stevens illustrated perfectly how it feels to be known as the pretty girl instead of being thought of as smart right away in the first season. “I walk into the ER and everyone hopes I’m the nurse.” She is pretty, she isn’t expected to be the surgeon despite receiving the same medical training as the rest of the group, because she is the pretty girl. No one expects a pretty girl to be smart, ‘be pretty or study hard’ is stuck in every girl’s brain by the time she moves into middle school. Nothing is expected from a pretty girl. Where Izzie Stevens is a fictional character, Jennifer Lawrence is an inspirational actress who calls attention to the gender gap even in Hollywood. Lawrence addressed the issue of body image and issue especially in newer actresses. She was told to look at the main actresses, such as herself, as a way to prove that girls have the same criticism as men in their field (Murray 2015). According to Murray (2015), Lawrence was able to take her stand and inform people that once an individual has ‘made it’ in their specific field, no one is going to make someone who has the fame and follower count as high as Lawrence jump through hoops anymore because that person has made it and is now respected (p. 16).
The problem is that when they are starting out especially, but even mid-career, an individual can never be perfect enough. With all the issues that society has taught us to follow, beginners and even women mid-career are being told how they can improve instead of what they are doing well. Everyone is trying to make it, and the gender gap is real in each field a female can or wants to work in or participate in. Lawrence has proven herself as a successful actress and still she is held to a different standard than men are in her field. This is a body issue, but it allows the public to see that even people that have jobs that are not necessarily academic still suffer from a double standard and gender gap.
Body and academic double standards will be barely visible and feed off of each other to continue to discriminate against females in any field that they would want to work in. Educating people on this issue could help our society close the gender gap by allowing our nation’s most visible people to be held to an equal standard, which will set an example for the nation’s youth to demand equality and the educators to give them equal expectations.
Women in their careers are introduced to barriers including but not limited to; a wage gap, sexism, double standards, and extra hoops to jump through for the same job as a man. A pretty woman can advance far in life, that’s true, but no one expects a pretty woman to be smart. Pretty women are expected to be pretty, and if they can prove that they are smart too and jump through those hoops, they can advance as far as they wish.
Once a pretty woman proves herself as intelligent, and as demanding, she can do anything, go anywhere, and be anyone that she wills to be. In reality, women do have similar opportunities to learn the same as men, but we are not encouraged or expected to take these opportunities the way that men are. The encouragement, the expectation and the attitude towards girls as real people, not as pretty beings, that is what will turn the first world country that we live in into an equal opportunity world.
Education is important for everyone, to be expected of, to be supported and to be seen as a life, not as a backup plan. Women are smart, and taking the responsibility for our education and our abilities is the only way that we can change this world for the best. Giving this world a target to work for, an ideal, teaching through peace and kindness about the importance of education for everyone, that is how we make the world a better place for everyone.
Taking advantage of living in America instead of in a third world country will not guarantee me that life will be fair to me, but it will provide me more opportunities to succeed than a female such as Malala may have. My expectation of myself to succeed will take me far in life so that I can make a difference in individual’s lives when the gender gap affects one more greatly than another. Being pretty should not be an excuse to not be smart, and should not be used as a replacement. I am no Jennifer Lawrence. I do not have a huge fan base, in fact, I am just starting out with my life. I have hoops that I will need to jump through in order to prove myself that men will never consider a problem because they do not need to jump through the same hoops for the same job. Closing the gender gap to make America a true place of equal opportunity is a start to closing the gender gap across the world to make the world a place of equal opportunity, safety, and encouragement. Giving females security without relying on men is the most supportive and encouraging thing that anyone can do for someone, and giving the opportunity to succeed without depending on anyone will close so many problems that we have worldwide.
It will help with homelessness, escaping domestic abuse, slowing the child bride trend, even terrorism, and so many other world problems that the opportunity for equal opportunity in education would close a gender gap. Solving the gender gap in America will lead to the solving of the gender gap in third world countries. As a first world country, America needs to lead the way to success around the world.
