Let's Move On by Vicente Fox

Author:Vicente Fox [Fox, Vicente]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Published: 2017-10-19T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

Women and Education

“Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights.”

—HILLARY CLINTON

IN 2012, THE TALIBAN, a group of men who pervert the religion of Islam, ordered the shooting of a young girl named Malala Yousafzai on her way to school. They’d taken over her village in Pakistan and decreed that girls were no longer allowed to go to school. Yousafzai survived a bullet to the head and has gone on to become a symbol of freedom and courage the world over, a winner of the Nobel Prize, and a tireless advocate for the right of women and children to have equal access to education.

Here is what we know about tyrants and authoritarian regimes throughout history: they know women are agents of change, the backbone of the family and community structure. Tyrants also know that to be educated is to be free; people who are able to think critically know how things should and can be and are less susceptible to indoctrination. Those who abuse power do it by systematically denying children education and oppressing women, who literally bring new life into the world. Therefore, we know that two of the overarching challenges we face on our way to a better world, both as individuals and as nations, are gender equity and equal access to education for all.

When I was a child, there were no colleges or universities in my home state. Only the families who were well off could afford to send their children to secondary school, and only the wealthiest could afford to send them to a university. When I was around ten years old, I realized I had a very different life than my friends, the sons and daughters of the families who were employed on our ranch. Instead of going to school and then spending the afternoon playing, these children had to work. By the time I was sent to a Catholic high school in Wisconsin, many of those friends had decided to cross the border in the hope of making enough money to help support their parents and siblings.

I realized then how the cycle of poverty worked. Those who were born poor, those who could not afford to get a higher education, would be poor for life. This realization felt like a shock to my system. For girls in my community, it was even worse. Many girls would not even get a primary education, because their life was relegated to the upkeep of the home. Oftentimes, young girls had to stay home to care for their siblings while their mothers went to work in the fields. The young girls would stay home until they, too, eventually got married and had children of their own. And so the cycle continued…

In fundamentalist authoritarian regimes, women are suffering under regressive policies that forbid their participating in government, working outside of the home, or even traveling without a male guardian; they cannot freely choose who they will marry, and face the death penalty for transgressions such as having a child out of wedlock.

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