Promoting Adolescent Girls For Leadership Opportunities

As expected, almost every Gateway Academy student complained about the length of our previous summer reading assignments. In an attempt to appease the masses, this summer we were given Teen Leadership Revolution: How Ordinary Teens Become Extraordinary Leaders by Tom Thelen. Through fourteen chapters Thelen discusses fourteen topics ranging from bullying to self-discipline to honesty. These chapters paired with their respective questions promised to help teens “navigate the storms of life and become great leaders”. While this book was, as promised, shorter than previous assignments, it was also irrelevant, poorly written, and not appropriate for readers my age.

A recent study by the Australian Government Department of Social Services (2008) looking at the challenges facing women in leadership roles highlighted the following areas as being significant;

All of those disadvantages for women in modern society are affecting young girls, and it is hard to raise daughters in today’s culture. We as a country should not just let this inequality continue. Men and women should be treated equally and it is important for parents to raise their kids to make the future less

    Women in developing countries take out loans to start businesses and make money. Women struggling to make money take out these loans start a business to make money and pay off the debt from taking the loan. They are able to further support their family along with themselves as the debt is paid off and the business makes more money. Individuals living in poverty filled communities rely on informal employment to make money. Micro-credits have been directed more towards women because they invest money in goods and services. They do not need to depend on their husband for money when they have their own business to make money. When women take out loans to start their businesses they get stronger and get independence from their husband. When women invest in good and give services they help their family and themselves in an effective way. This could benefit women in poverty towards coming out of poverty.

WomenOne is a non-profit committee, dedicated to making positive change within the lives women and girls globally, through access to quality education. They support verified, innovative, community-based, formal and non-formal instructional initiatives. By advocating for the power of one educated woman to remodel her life, thus she's going to inspire a community, and alter the planet. Without the opportunity of education, the future of the unfortunate girls would be circumcision, an arranged marriage, and a probable life of poverty. WomenOne is a new non-profit, created in 2011. However, even in short time they have already traveled a long way to identify the needs of women and girls all across the globe and giving them a voice. They work

Consequently, this mindset, which is heavily based on tradition, prevented little girls from exploring their talents and capabilities because their fathers, brothers and sometimes even mothers decide 12 years is old enough to be women, force them to quit school and possibly even marry them off. Additionally, this form of discrimination, which is not practiced only by men but women as well, denied women certain academic opportunities. Therefore, a large number of women in those communities are hurdled from reaching their full potential and partaking in the improvement and development of our society and country.

In both developing and emerging economies, microfinance has vastly and increasingly been seen as one of the most important means for enhancing the lives of the poor and therefore a major tool for economic and social development mostly in rural areas. Lately, contrary to this widespread belief, critics have raised eyebrows against this growing popularity of microfinance as a major tool for enhancing economic development. Contrary to belief, they are of the opinion that microfinance is a ‘make-belief’ that is hindering economic and social development rather than enhancing it.

The book, Microfinance and its Discontent: Women in Debt in Bangladesh written by Lamia Karim, gives us account on what causes a culture to be known as “economy of shame” status, such as in the case of Bangladesh. She writes on a subject that is a top list priority in the economical world these days, the corrupt ways NGO’s lenders do business not only in Bangladesh but across the world, however, she centralizes her views on Bangladesh and only a handful of NGO’s. Even though this was primarily a look at Bangladesh, it has resulted in capturing the attention of people across the globe not only with the NGO’s mention in the book but resulting in a closer look at all NGO’s and how they serve the people. Karim shares with the readers how the 1980’s nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) led in the way of microfinance institutions and claimed that they were providing women with an empowerment tool by issuing them loans. We find that over 80% of borrows are women and most are economically challenged already. With that being stated Karim also takes a look at how and why that is, she discusses the long term effects it is having on women and how it is furthering the exploitation of women in Bangladesh. She looked at how this type of exploitation has not only weakened further women’s economy in Bangladesh but has also strengthen the power NGO’s have over the people (mainly women) at the same time. It takes a look at this type of expansion and brands NGO’s use as a “shadow state

Poverty has stricken many developing nations. However, there are many ways to limit things like this from occurring, micro-loans being one of those things. It is apparent that women in developing countries are empowered by micro-loans. Micro-loans are a small amount of money given to small businesses. Micro-loans help make women more independent and help them not rely on their husbands for money. It helps these women in poverty get their kids and themselves an education with the money they receive. Additionally, micro-loans make it possible for women starting a business, in order to make more money. There are many benefits for women receiving micro-loans.

For Victoria’s case, she needs the money to buy more potatoes and quinoa to make sure her shop has all the proper vegetables (Kiva.org). If Victoria can keep her shop well stocked, she may attract more customers and make more money. By earning more money, Victoria can improve her quality of life. According to Plan Canada “microfinancing can lead to improved access to clean water and better sanitation while also providing better access to health care” (plancanada.ca). Research shows that microfinance loans are better suited for women because they are less likely to miss payments on their loan and it helps them feel empowered (plancanada.ca). By lending to Victoria, she will feel empowered and will be able to support herself and her family. Also, because she is a woman, she is less likely to miss

As the author points out, the figures on women in leadership is staggering in disparity. The article takes time to focus on identifying and highlighting reasons what makes a successful leader. Having an opportunity to attend a leadership meeting, in which we discussed improving inclusion at my company, this article presented many of the same reasons that as a company we tried to understand, “Why do we not have more women in leadership?” This article really underscores that in order for a business to survive and grow or for that matter, any organization to flourish you need to find individuals that embody the above-mentioned leadership traits not just seniority.

Although they have been given more rights and equality, women still lack fairness in areas such as education, domestic abuse, crime, and lower class value. Cassandra Clifford states in her article “Are Girls still marginalized? Discrimination and Gender Inequality in Today’s Society”, “Woman and girls are abused by their husbands and fathers, young girls are exploited by sex tourism and trafficking, girls in many countries are forced into arranged marriages at early ages. Twice as many women are illiterate as men, due to the large gap in education, and girls are still less likely to get jobs and excel in the work place than boys.” She describes some of the issues that women face today around the world. These issues are what keep society from coming together to form a better world.

Education is considered as the critical software for development as it shapes the destiny for every society. Currently the initiative is driven by the Millennium Development Goals and the goals of Education for All. The MDG’s with direct reference to women education are Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education and Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women. This means that everybody in the society should be given a chance to attend school, women included (Anne Syomwene , 2015)

Women’s educational level is increased from the last few years by the invention of media literacy. Women are encouraged to learn technology education and choose a new field for their future. It has been explored that female applicants are less hired because they watched by both female and male controllers as less skilled than male applicant. Empowerment takes place with the CARE’s leadership model that has been tested since 2009 in 28 countries. Girls get to know so much about this, and they get leadership qualities through which they get more aware about equal rights. (Stromquist 318- 19) These kind of partiality highlight the gender, exercise that women faced at the first stage of their occupation. Through opening new programs for girls that teach media literacy and its negative impacts, it also opens new avenues for them, so women would be encouraged to pursue new fields of education than what is expected from them and believe in what they want to do, regardless of what media literacy teaches.Women plays crucial role in society development education is very important for them.

Microcredit is based on a separate set of principles, which are distinguished from general financing or credit. The savings-ed microfinance has gained recognition as an effective way to bring very poor families low-cost financial services. It’s not only provided in poor countries, but also in one of the world’s richest country USA, where 37 million people live below the poverty line (Grameen Bank). In Grameen Bank even a beggar gets special attention. A beggar comes under a campaign from Grameen Bank, which is designed to convince to join Grameen programme. The bank explains how she can carry some merchandise with her when she goes out to beg from door to door and earn money, or she can display some merchandise by her side when she is begging in a fixed place. Grameen's idea is to graduate her to a noble livelihood rather than continue with begging. Such a programme would not be a part of a conventional bank's work.