Name: Bethany Castle
Community/State: Kingston SE, South Australia
School: Kingston Community School
Age/Grade: 16 Years, Year 11
Overcoming the odds – how can we push through barriers to achieve gender equality?
Throughout history, women have been regarded as the weaker, inferior sex. Voting, competing in professional sporting events and the discrimination of women in high-ranking jobs and parliament; men have had these freedoms without a fight, handed on a plate.
Women such as Emmaline Pankhurst and Elizabeth Stanton fought for gender equality and won us many of the rights we deserve. Yet, somehow, the divide is still larger than ever. Female rape victims charged with extramarital sex in the UAE, Saudi women trapped in abusive marriages, having to gain permission to marry and divorce from their husbands, and child bride trafficking throughout Asia, where girls are being sold to men double their age. Every year, 15 million girls are forced into lives of subjugation.
With slavery abolished, and most inhumane Industrial Revolution practices abandoned, why has this female-oriented slavery continued for centuries? Why has no action taken place for these girls?
It is apparent that we need to push through barriers to achieve gender equality.
The growth of social media can aid young activists in the western world to raise awareness for child trafficking and victim blaming, and give voices to the women who cannot speak out. Social media campaigns, like the #MeToo movement have proven to be successful in making victims’ voices heard in the US and Australia. The #bringbackourgirls campaign in 2014 raised awareness of the kidnapping of 276 girls in Nigeria, backed by influential figures such as Michelle Obama and Kim Kardashian. If influential people used campaigns to draw public attention to the issues in the Middle East and Asia rather than oil and nuclear weapons, then perhaps more could take place to stop these crimes.
It is necessary to educate youth of the undeniable fact that gender inequality is still a prevalent issue within society, and that more must be done to challenge the societal norms that divide us; to empower women and help them realise their potential, regardless of gender. It is crucial to inform them of the injustices that they cannot see, and develop solutions for a world of equality.
Malala Yousafzai said, “I speak not for myself, but so those without a voice can be heard.” Through education and awareness, we can build up our voices and speak out not only for our struggles but for the struggles of those who cannot speak out for themselves. We can create change by pushing through barriers.
Bibliography:
CBC, 2016, British woman charged with extramarital sex in Dubai after reporting rape | CBC Radio. [29 Aug. 2019].
Power, G, 2019, Things that women in Saudi Arabia still cannot do. The Week UK. [29 Aug. 2019].
World Vision. (2019). Child Marriage – Facts, FAQs and How to Help | Child Brides | World Vision Australia. [29 Aug. 2019].
del Estal, E. 2018, ‘I was bought for 50,000 rupees’: India’s trafficked brides – in pictures, The Guardian. [29 Aug. 2019]
Anti-Slavery International, 2019, Child marriage: when is it slavery? – Anti-Slavery International. [29 Aug. 2019].
Searcey, D. and Ferguson, A, 2019, Kidnapped as Schoolgirls by Boko Haram: Here They Are Now. New York Times. [29 Aug. 2019].
Shearlaw, M. 2019, Did the #bringbackourgirls campaign make a difference in Nigeria?, The Guardian. [29 Aug. 2019].
Bethany’s Power Trip is kindly being sponsored by AgriFutures Australia!