This is a guest post by Emily Leys, Senior Global Program Officer for Room to Read's Girls' Education Program, in honor of International Women's Day, March 8th.
*****
I’ll always remember the chilly autumn day I waited with three women strangers to cross the street in downtown San Francisco. The light was green, but the scream of a fire engine siren warned us all to stay put until the emergency vehicle passed. As the fire truck tore by, I looked up just in time to see the Asian American woman driver expertly maneuvering it around the corner. I can’t quite explain how I felt except to say that my heart leapt… funny as that sounds. I glanced around to the other women on the corner and we were all grinning ear to ear. One of us even said, “right on!” and we all nodded to each other. We then crossed the street and each resumed our busy afternoons. However fleeting, the positive, physical response I had to seeing this woman firefighter has contributed to my understanding of the power of role models. She was a gender transformative role model for me and I’m celebrating her today.
Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day. The day was established nearly 100 years ago as a day of international solidarity among women and their men allies around the globe. Along with the history of struggle, the day has become a time to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future in our own contexts and those around the world. This year’s theme of International Women’s Day is "Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All." This theme resonates deeply with Room to Read as it is our vision and mission to promote quality education for all the world’s children. Particularly relevant is our work to increase gender equality in education by supporting equal opportunities for girls through our Girls’ Education program. A key strategy of this program is to ensure that girls have access to positive, transformative role models.
Room to Read fosters and provides role modeling in a variety of different ways. One way is by supporting local mentors who work directly with the girls. Joshina, a local Room to Read mentor in Nepal, was herself an indentured servant and provides a positive, breathing example to the hundreds of girls on our program who have lived through this same experience. In Cambodia, Sokhea completed 12th grade as a participant on the Girls’ Education program and now works as a mentor in her community providing an example of the resources and skills that secondary school can provide. Another way our program provides role modeling is by inviting adult women to come speak with the girls about their experiences and careers. Recently, our Zambia team invited an accomplished female math teacher to demystify math and science as the girls were struggling in these subjects. And, Nang Oy’s Dream, a local language title developed and published by Room to Read Laos, presents literary role models that include a girl struggle to go to school and her father’s willingness to break with traditional gender roles take on some of her household chores himself in order to make her dream possible.
The need for role models is universal, even if the relevance of the particular types varies between and within contexts. My excitement at seeing a woman firefighter is related to the context of San Francisco, California in the early 1990s. I had learned that it wasn’t until 1987 that San Francisco had hired the first woman to the fire department and that was under a hard won court order to diversify. This is just a small example of the hundreds of women and men that have represented gender transformative role models to me over the years. I am excited for Room to Read to continue to promote positive and relevant role modeling for and among the girls and boys that we serve. On this International Women’s Day, I encourage us all to reflect on the gender transformative role models that have inspired us and helped shape our lives. And to continue to work toward a world with equal rights, equal opportunities and progress for all.
To learn more about our Girls' Education program, click here.