For my third Stockton Event of the semester, I chose to attend the Girl Rising movie screening on Tuesday, November 19th. It was held in the Alton Auditorium at 4:30 PM and lasted approximately ninety minutes. The event functioned as both a Reflection Session and Dialogue Session through the Office of Service Learning. I decided to attend the event because I wanted to learn more about the film’s mission to educate a greater number of women globally.
The film presented the stories of nine different girls and their struggles against slavery, sexual abuse and poverty. Girl Rising advocates for more widespread access to education for girls. The campaign highlights the impact that education can have on women’s lives. According to the film, 65 million girls are not enrolled in school globally and that two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population are women. Interestingly, for every extra year of education they receive, girls earn 20% more money. Also, the film asserted that if India enrolled 1% more girls in secondary school, its GDP would rise by $5.5 billion. Girl Rising demonstrated the social and economic value in educating females that I previously was unaware of. Following the screening of the film, a brief question and answer session was held.
Aside from being informative about the problems with global education, the event demonstrated that many fellow Stockton students are concerned with the impact and availability of education worldwide. I enjoyed the event and would recommend watching Girl Rising to learn more about educational inequality throughout the world.