Intelligence Equated with Witchcraft — 12 year old shot in Peru
The missionary Finta Lajos, who works in the small village Oventeni in the remote rain-forest of Peru, told the very sad story of a young 12-year old girl having been shot for witchcraft. Every year he went to the school in Oventeni to choose the most intelligent children to teach the following year on. One year, there was a really intelligent girl with bright eyes that looked straight into the face of people. Usually in this village, the custom is for women to lower their eyes when talking to men, but in her Finta Lajos saw a difference. She was outspoken, opinionated, and showed great academic potential. That year he chose her and 2–3 other boys to be his pupils. Yet the young girl was his favorite, the one he thought could change the society and help lead their people out of misery. When the next fall came, all of his students were coming to his class — with one exception — the girl with the intelligent eyes. When Lajos asked where she was, people replied: “Don’t you know? She was a witch and has been taken to the forest, where she was shot.”
Stories like this do not only happen in remote areas of the Peruvian Amazon, they happen all over the world. Women in developing countries are twice as likely as men to experience violence [1]. The murder of this young girl is certainly an unjustified and tragic consequence not only resulting from the irrational fear of these villagers, but the lack of human rights and power inequalities experienced specifically by women and girls.
Finta Lajos saw potential in the girl with the intelligent and bright eyes. She was unafraid to reject the gender norms in the village by looking in the face of men and by sharing her opinions. Yet she was ultimately deemed a “witch,” punished, and sadly was never given the chance to attain an education and realize her full potential. Yet this story reflects the barriers to education young girls all over the world encounter. Out of the 774 million adults across the globe that can’t read or write, 493 million are women [2]. By empowering women through education we can promote gender equality and eradicate extreme forms of discrimination and violence. Today, on the 13th day of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, we remember the young girl who paid the ultimate price simply for being who was she was and the many women and girls around the world who are never given the chance to realize their potential.
Want to learn more about this issue? Check out the UN-page on illiteracy for young girls! http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002449/244959e.pdf
References:
[1] Yurtoğlu, Nadir. “Http://www.historystudies.net/dergi//birinci-dunya-savasinda-bir-asayis-sorunu-sebinkarahisar-ermeni-isyani20181092a4a8f.pdf." History Studies International Journal of History 10, no. 7 (2018): 241–64. doi:10.9737/hist.2018.658.
[2] Nordtveit, Bjorn Harald. “Civil Society, Women, Illiteracy.” Constructing Development, 2009, 49–76. doi:10.1007/978–90–481–2235–6_3.
