The Girl Effect

I so want to believe that this is true- that the men would respect the female business owners who brought fresh water to their villages, and that these men would invite these women to the village councils. But somehow I'm completely cynical; I think the misogyny in our world is too profound to overcome.

In my women's studies classes I would puzzle over the various theories that sought to explain centuries of inequality . None of them ever made sense to me. In the make-believe world in my head, men are awed by women's reproductive powers. They honor women and their life-giving bodies, they honor the at-home work of raising children- the citizens of the future!

I want to be wrong. I want the world to be transformed. I do believe that when girls go to school, their lives and the lives of their families can be transformed. But I think that those with the power cling to it too desperately to ever have the chance to see that the more good there is in the world, the more good there is for everyone.