Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Greg Mortenson speak. Greg started a campaign 16 years ago to increase the number of rural schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which has since grown into the Central Asia Institute (among other initiatives). I could say a lot more about him, but I’ll let you catch up with his bio. PS I might as well tell you to read at least one of his two books, because they have a lot of really great insight (I’m sure many of you have actually read Three Cups of Tea).
There were several points during the discussion that made me think of Girls in Tech and some of the philosophies and missions we support. I’ve listed a few of the below.
- The importance of empowering young girls. One of the major foci of Mortenson’s work is not only to increase the educational opportunities of children in these areas, but specifically of young girls. His idea is if you educate a girl, they effect a whole community (based on various factors such as the fact that they don’t leave for rural areas, they are nurturers, and they are generally the teachers of families, and thus communities).
- The importance of listening to your elders. This wasn’t specific to young girls per se, but when Mortenson asks young kids whether they have regular discussions with and learn from their grandparents, maybe 10% of the kids in the US raise their hands. It’s 80-90% in countries like Pakistan and Afhganistan. My first thought? That’s so awesome.
- The importance of women in terms of peace. I spent a summer in graduate school researching the Bangladeshi “terrorist scene” with the goal of identifying the threat to the US of terrorism that may or may not be coming out of the madrasa (school) system. As I’m reaching the time for the conference report of findings, it was becoming clear that the threat to the US was in fact quite low. However, what was more clear was that there was still domestic unrest, hostility, local acts of violence and distaste for the government…. All good ingredients for terrorism. However, one of the most promising ways in which that could be combated based on the current system in place was to educate and empower the women in the community, who were not only the family leaders but often the teachers in these schools. This alone could be powerful enough to quell several types of violent outburst. Mortenson used the example of jihad: when an individual wishes to declare jihad of any sort, they must get the approval of their mother. When the mother is more educated, they are much less likely to give that approval. Enough said.
So much of this rings for Girls in Tech. Empowering the next generation of women is a very important part of our mission, whether it’s locally or internationally, but also gaining valuable knowledge from the generations before us. Both of these apply no matter what your age. I know one of my goals in the Boston Chapter has been and will continue to be to get the involvement of all age groups, from young girls to grandmothers, because there’s so much that can be done when you can capture everything that’s in that span.
And lastly, in terms of number three, I mean, it’s simple. Women rock in a serious way. And the more we can all do to give them the means to rock, fantastic. Isn’t that why we’re all here?
