Harshita, my junior at my school, is a brilliant writer. We both have had major influences on our lives by people like Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris and Angela Merkel. And soon, we realized that the portion of "successful" women is really low. But why is it this way? Why can't girls follow their passion? How does puberty affect this? How can we change?
As passionate writers, who are constantly in search for answers, we decided to write a blog.
If you follow your passion, you don’t have to work for a single day in your life.’
In this era of millennials, chemicals and toxins; children going to schools is no less common than having three meals a day. Therefore, what needs to be taken care of is the veracity and quality of education imparted in these institutions. It has been found that the school systems teach students to get good grades and how to get jobs, FULL STOP. We are taught to stand in a line, not ask stupid questions and memorize the syllabus.
Society teaches us that the real success is having a secure bank account, as for girls; a good husband with financial security suffices.
With the theory of ‘Follow your passion’ coming up, women like Cher Blakely, Oprah Winfrey and Angela Merkel are a live inspiration for millions of girls to dive into the ocean of the unknown and let the uncertain tides guide their way to glory. While boys are encouraged to follow their passion, the time is yet to come when women freely choose the vocation that they love.
There is no doubt that leaving the security of a fat paycheck and a satisfying bank balance can make anyone a little hesitant, but there is no real heroism in working at a job that doesn’t wake you up with an ardent passion to do your best every single day.
As Indian women, most of us have grown up hearing this one word being chanted by others around us: ‘Adjust’. It is as if the society perceives us as some kind of fluid which can take the shape and form of any vessel it has been poured into. However, the winds of change are here my friend, and women today are increasingly feeling proud of being unique.
At the end of our lives, what matters, is that we never lived life on our terms and the raging fire is left to die within us, as we slave our way through life. Every single one of us has a unique purpose to serve mankind through our talents.
A smart person once said-”I’d rather work 100 hours for myself, than working 40 hours for another person.
But when do we start developing our passions? When we are teenagers. And that's exactly where the problem lies for many women.
A teenager’s life is full of waiting for and hoping for validation. We want to be accepted by our peers, so we try to hide our insecurities, our talents that we think might not be good enough, or “cool” enough. Meanwhile, we also try to bring out the best in ourselves, so that first, we get acknowledged by teachers and then we get into our dream colleges. All this while, we forget about ourselves, our health and instead of living in the present, we become more like zombies, just waiting for the future. Waiting for the day when we finally can feel proud of ourselves.
If we look at this problem from the perspective of an average middle class girl, things change, by a lot. Many factors restrict her education, and make going to school itself a lot more difficult. How can she, then, even dream about getting into a college? She gets up every morning, hoping not to get her period, so that she can focus more on her studies than the horrible stomach ache. The stomach ache is just a biological factor that can not be prevented, but schools have also done nothing much to help her.
Did you know that around 23 million women drop out of school EVERY YEAR in India, once they begin menstruating?
23 million. That’s 23 million dreams. Maybe some of them could have gone on to become something big and get a job that helps them feel independent in our patriarchal society. Maybe some of them would have finally been able to support their family, the way their brothers support it. Maybe some of them could have lived their dreams and finally felt proud and life worth living. Maybe the idea of a girl only suited to household work could have drastically changed. But now, all of those 23 million dreams have been crushed and will be getting crushed, if nothing is done soon in the near future.
Change lies in the hands of leaders and changes regarding teenage problems that affect girls can be brought if we have more women leaders. More women leaders who personally understand these issues, who personally want to make life easier for an average middle class girl who is just trying to get her an education.
Writers - Aaira Goswami and Harshita Sharma
Click on this link to check out Harshita's own blog!
©Aaira Goswami, 2021. All rights reserved.