Pursuing Dreams ... An Upstream Struggle

Abstract

A 70 year old woman once told me, "education is a must for women these days if they want to raise a family and help their husbands. Men ... they don't need education. Wherever you throw them, they land on their feet." This statement seems to be the reversal of what that same old woman might have said 30 years ago; however, many people today still believe that education is more important for boys than girls in order to justify the dichotomy of roles ascribed to males and females. While males, "the breadwinners," need education in order to find better jobs, therefore providing for the family, females, "the homemakers," have little need for it since they are more restricted to the private space, the realm of the household.