Congratulations Pavani on being a finalist for this newly inaugurated, international essay competition run by the Women’s Learning Partnership. Selected from a pool of young writers aged 14-18 from across the globe, Pavani wrote on the education deficit for women in India and how a new generation of young girls is overcoming it. The essays were graded on three criteria: Awareness of the Problem (35 marks), Ideas for the Solution (55 marks), and Communication and Writing (10 marks). The scores are weighted heavily in favor of those essays that suggest comprehensive solutions to advance gender rights. See a list of finalists here Post a comment on Pavani’s essay and help her win the audience prize. While they continue the judging process, go on over to the blog to learn more about the Women’s Learning Partnership, read the entries from the first group of finalists, and post comments! Remember, the essay with the most comments will receive a special audience choice prize. Thank you to all our students for submitting.
(Pavani’s essay re-posted below)

Issues Facing the Women…

Posted on 19 February 2010 by wlp

Finalist in WLP’s Youth Essay Contest Group 1: 14-18 Years
Pavani, India

My aunt was uneducated. Her name was Shanthi. She had a husband and a family of one girl and one boy. Now they are working. They are educated. They are working and earning money. One girl has recently married. By my aunt did not go to school because her mother died at a very young age. So she had to work in the home and had some problems. That’s why she couldn’t go to school and why she was uneducated. I think that she feels very bad about being uneducated. If she was educated she could know about all the things she doesn’t know about. She would read all the newspapers. She was married at the young age of 13 and left for her husband’s house to go live there. But after she got there her husband married another lady. My aunt came to our house and she lived for some days with us. Eventually she went back to her husband. Did he marry for some problems? After some time she gave birth to a boy and next a girl. By another daddy two more daughters were born and they too are living separate and with us. This girl and boy and daughters were educated. Now they are doing jobs and earning money and her big daughter was recently married. My aunt if she could would study. But now she knows something about some of the things she never knew before. She doesn’t need the newspapers for that.

Women like Shanthi have come to be limited to their kitchen. They are not given proper education at the basic level. But college levels are accessible! The woman wants a place of her own in society. To look for solutions for tomorrow is to look at changes happening today. Women are in no way inferior to men. As students they are establishing their superiority over boys. They are now entering fields which were previously exclusively occupied by men. Now they practice as doctors, lawyers and engineers. They have entered the police force and work as bus conductors. In all fields they are making their presence felt. The government is providing some solutions for women. For example, reservations are provided for them in educational institutions and jobs. Ani-dowry laws are made to protect women after marriage. Special rights are being given to women. The modern woman will have a better life. In God’s great creation man and woman are equal. In our social life they also should be treated as equals. However women are being treated as inferior to men.

This inequality should be removed. How? Education. Education makes life meaningful. It allows both men and women to have a prominent role to play in our social life. As such their education should be given importance. There is a strong case for the education of women. They have a right to pursue knowledge. An educated women can still be a good housewife. She can bring up her children along the right lines. In India women have always left their mark on our culture an social life but they have lost their past glory in modern civilization which is marked by male domination. Even today many consider the proper place for women to be the kitchen. But today Indian women are fighting against the domination of men. Now girls are receiving good education. They are fighting and are being given certain rights and privileges. Mother India has produced great women in the past and now I am confident she will continue to do so.

Finalist in WLP’s Youth Essay Contest Group 1: 14-18 Years
Pavani, India