Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Girl Effect

*I realized after reading N8's and Anton's comments that I probably should've given some context to this video. Here is the website on which the video is found: The Girl Effect.

I don't know if you can read the smaller text in the image, but it says that a woman or girl will reinvest 90% of her income into her family. A man will reinvest 30-40%.

The idea of "the girl effect" is in the context of socially and economically developing countries where women are not typically allowed to have a role in society outside of motherhood. The video is saying that if girls are given opportunities to participate in their societies that many of the social and economic issues that plague these societies will start to improve.




We watched this at work yesterday and it's incredible (visually and informationally). Please watch!

5 comments:

Nathan said...

sure it's a nice idea, but as far as i can tell there really is no information presented in this video. the craftsmanship i find passable, but nothing particularly striking about it. what is odd to me is the fundamental idea that the education of girls will change the world, suggesting that girls, in a significant way, have the power to fix what no one else has been able to. i suppose it is possible that this is true. perhaps boys are the cause of the world's ills. it seems to me like a pandering to the Club. "GIRLS RULE! BOYS DROOL! COME ON LET'S FIX THE WORLD!" i won't argue one way or the other about the value of a boy to a girl in society. everyone knows the statistics. girls get better grades etc... however, i feel that the cutesy, designy veneer attempts to polish away this implication or perhaps simply overlooks it. pretending to present information when all it is actually saying is girls (not boys) are savior to the world.

Anton Seim said...

I probably agree with Nathan.

For simple emotional reasons, I love the way the text is presented in this video. It's very compelling.

Justin said...

I too barely approve of this pretty well-done-probably-pro-bono-attempt-to-address-a-genuinely-socially-relevant-issue. If only they had spent some cash on a decent design studio instead of buying a bunch of cows.

Cara said...

It's true that the countries that treat women the poorest are the countries that are most underdeveloped, have the most violence, etc. However, orrelation doesn't necessarily imply causation. I attended a roundtable discussion during Islam awareness week at TCU a couple years ago, and a religion professor (Andy Fort, I believe), presented this "girl affect" theory very compellingly; I remember it making sense at the time. However, I cannot find the notebook I took notes in. But, yeah, there really is something to this, and it's more than the idea that women are better than men. Because everyone knows men are better, of course!

It has to do with allowing women to have an education and contribute to the work force and society. Education changes everything.

Cool video, also.

Sara said...

The way I see it, it isn't so much the idea that girls are better than boys, but the fact that girls can be a valuable and contributing member to society if given a chance and treated with equality to a man. Maybe not equality (I'm not a feminist and I don't think the sexes can be "equal"), but at least as a peer and a fellow human being.

These cultures won't be saved if a girl gets a school uniform, cow, etc. But if the reasoning (cultural belief) behind why she can't do that now changes, then progress can be made.

The root of the problem, as I see it, is education. Not just sexism.

Don't you think?