The Lady Doth Think too Much
How the ‘male’ law is preventing female education
Education is able to open many opportunities for women and girls that benefit them over a life time. For example, women that are able to get an education for themselves are more likely to not be victims of physical or sexual abuse in later relationships. Women learn about self-autonomy and how they have every right to refuse having sex with anyone. Moreover, they not only learn how to protect themselves but also how to provide for themselves. They can apply for higher paying positions and be the sole bread winner of their families if needed. However, girls and women all over the world — including in our good old U.S. of A. — have safety issues when it comes to obtaining an education. There are so many obstacles and barriers, including not having educational institutions nearby, having laws and cultural norms prohibiting them from ever having an education, and having lack of protection from violence while going to school.
Lucinda Peach struck a nerve when she discussed how the law is considered to be male in her piece, Is Violence Male? The Law, Gender, and Violence. She stressed how our legal system in the United States “continues to turn a blind eye” to women that experience some form of violence. This awful systematic oppression also has grave consequences for women trying to get an education in the United States and globally. Violence against women is an embedded part of cultures everywhere, and male laws do nothing to protect women in multiple parts of the world.
Because the United States is not the center of the world, much to some people’s surprise, we need to look at education for girls in a global sense. There is no investment going towards girls’ education in many countries because it is far from being a necessity in poverty stricken areas. In some countries such as Nigeria, Mali, and Pakistan, women that live in poverty often have the most obstacles getting an education because they cannot afford to stay in school — that is if they are even able to find one close to them. The families of some girls may decide that education is not a feasible option, and the only thing left to do is marry the girls off, despite their young age. Other families do not believe in educating women at all, making marriage the only possible option. Regardless of how it comes about, the fact is that over 60% of girls and women that did not receive an education were married before turning eighteen.
Nevertheless, even if a woman is able to go to school, she must face the very real possibility of being physically or sexually assaulted. No matter the distance from her home to her school, a girl or woman can be harassed simply for walking by men. As seen in Angry Indian Goddesses, a group of men felt entitled to the women’s bodies as they passed them on the road, and showed it by using crude language and gestures. The women angrily rejected them but the men returned later on to rape and kill one of the women from the group. This type of situation is an every day scenario with girls that walk to school. Research has shown that over 260 girls that have been going to school in Nigeria have been kidnapped. Meanwhile, those that keep attending school, are threatened death by extremist groups that do not want girls getting an education.
These issues may seem a world away when we look at the United States, because higher education institutions have had women enrolling at rates higher than ever before. However, despite having larger numbers of women in college, the judicial system has failed to protect them while they pursue their education. About one in five women experience sexual assault while they attend college, but many states have difficulty even outlining a definition for rape. This makes it possible for authorities in the legal system to evade the seriousness of the situation and not do anything to prevent future physical assault.
To illustrate how this is a real world problem, we must turn to the Brock Turner case. He raped an unconsciousness woman — while several witnesses were present — and was given an eight month sentence but only served three months. Turner’s crime was not taken seriously nor was the victim. In the aftermath of similar situations, women have to learn how to cope with with the violence they endured with whatever resources are available to them — if there are any. Meanwhile, men get a slap on the wrist because it was a ‘small mistake’. Instead of making the perpetrators responsible for their actions and having them face the full consequences, our “male” law system tries to blame the victim. They look at what the women had been wearing at the time, if she had been drinking, or if she had been flirting suggestively.
“Why weren’t you at home? What the hell were you doing at a bar?”
“You were wearing a short dress. You were asking for it!”
As a college student myself, I am absolutely terrified to walk home alone from a late class. What protections do I have? If something were to happen, and I found myself a victim of sexual assault, could I trust a system that was made by men for men? Will the judge agree that my perpetrator should not have his life ruined over “20 minutes of action”? These are all questions central to the conversation we must have if women want to not live in fear of this happening one day.
Peach’s discussion of the law as male emphasizes the struggles that women have and we must apply it in a global perspective . Women can greatly improve their lives in multiple aspects from ending child marriage to providing a new sense of autonomy. However, the dominate male legal system most women live in, provides no aid for them to get an education nor does it provide proper protection and sanctions for those that use violence against them. The best and most efficient way to begin the end of women’s oppression is to help them get safe access to education in every nation.
