Because I am a Girl - Plan USA

Santhi the work thief 89
Santhi is from an adivasi or tribal family
in Andhra Pradesh. She has always
wanted to be a doctor and is criticised by
her mother for spending time on studying
and not on housework. Mothers can be as
determined as fathers to make sure their
daughters conform and do what is seen as
appropriate for a girl.
“Since my childhood I had the desire to
become a doctor. I can help all if I become
a doctor. Doctors treat some people
differently. If they get an illness, doctors
should treat them well, help them all
equally. That is my wish.”
Santhi spends lot of time studying at
home in the evenings and prefers to help
her father with his teaching preparation
rather than doing household chores.
“Sometimes I do help my mother; if I
feel like helping I will help them. I don’t
do it daily but I help my father: he is a
teacher, so I help him in preparing his
teaching material. I enjoy doing that
work; I don’t like household work. My
sister helps my mother; she does all that
work, I don’t.”
This causes conflict with her mother,
who feels that Santhi “does not bother
about others” and is neglecting her
responsibilities to the family. She
compares Santhi unfavourably to her
other two children:
“[The] younger daughter shares
everything [chores] with her brother.
Those two are alike. Even if she does not
know how to do it she will come forward
to do it. This girl [Santhi] evades work.
She is a work thief.”
a barrage of advertising, which increasingly
forces them and their parents to choose
stereotypical toys. We have shown how
some children have successfully challenged
these stereotypes.
We have also heard from boys and girls
who question the roles that they find in the
home, and who are working to behave in
ways that share tasks more equally. Primary
research for this report has found young
people in many countries who are questioning
what they learned as small children. Boys like
these ones from Gasange in Rwanda, who
say that: “Parents should play a greater role
in showing their children that they are equal
both in the home and outside.” 90 Or girls like
Lana, aged 16, from Brazil, who says: “If I
were President I would enact a law for equal
rights, a law saying that women and men
could do the same things. If she cleans the
house, he can do it too; and if she can cook,
he can do it too!” 91 These young people
believe that they can do better than their
parents in building a more equal world.
In the next chapter we will look at the
influences children face when they move
from their first institution, the family, to the
next: school.
Family life in
Peru.
This chapter has shown how boys and girls are
socialised from a very early age to conform to
certain ideas of what it means to be male and
female, and how this has an effect on how
they behave throughout their lives. We have
seen positive examples of how fathers have
supported their sons and daughters, but we
have also seen how violence in particular is
passed on down the generations.
We have also seen the importance of
early years education, and how positive
models of learning at this age can build a
firm foundation for the future. But we have
revealed how even very young children face
D a n i e l S i l v a
48 the s tate of the world’s girls 49