I recently attended a showing of the film Girl Rising on campus. It was a documentary about different girls around the world and the hardships they faced and overcame throughout their lives. One girl got herself a job cleaning public toilets at a very young age to help her family financially. These were not the kind of luxurious public bathrooms we enjoy everyday here at Stockton, but instead disgusting hole in the floor bathrooms where nobody seemed to have good aim. She did this every single day throughout her childhood and teenage years. It was better than her other option, which was to sell her body to the neighborhood miners like the other girl’s in her community did to get by.

The movie opened up my eyes to the vast majority of struggles women face throughout the world. Most of the women in this movie had somebody there to support them. A male figure like a brother or a father who wanted better for them than society had to offer. That, however, is not the usual way things are. Most girls do not have that figure in their life. With nobody there for them, they do as society tells them to.

It brought up the issue of education. Public education is not available to the entire world, and without it thinks like this are possible for not only girls but all children. Even in certain countries where public education is available it is so poor that most students do not make it through the elementary grades without dropping out. I immediately felt grateful for the education I was able to obtain as an American. Sure, improvements can be made on our education system, but without it I would not be here. All those days I complained about having to go to school seemed like a blessing after the things I witnessed in this film.