ChesterCountyMedicineSpring2020 - 26

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An American
Teenager's Dream
and Conquest
BY MIAN JAN, M.D., CHAIRMAN, DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE PENN MEDICINE
CHESTER COUNTY HOSPITAL,
AND
MARIA KHAN, AN INTERN AT WEST CHESTER CARDIOLOGY

G

ender inequality is arguably a global obstacle; this issue
is of particular concern in Pakistan. Human Rights
Watch recently ranked this nation as being the second
most afflicted by gender inequality worldwide. The causes of
gender inequality in Pakistan are multifactorial, but lack of
access to educational opportunities is thought to be of particular
importance. Estimates suggest there are 22.5 million children
between the ages of 5-16 years that are not enrolled in school. Fifty
nine percent of these children deprived of educational opportunity
are young women. Addressing women's educational needs has
been and continues to be a crucial component of any intervention
aimed at mitigating gender inequality. The lack of religious, social,
and facility support is an ongoing barrier to the education of
young women in more conservative countries.
The Sonia Shah Organization (SSO) is a philanthropic
organization with demonstrable success at combatting barriers
women face in pursuit of education. Their mission is to engage,
educate and empower women. SSO has supported the education
of women by building a school, providing access to medical care,
and providing the necessary resources to succeed. SSO currently
strives to increase the number of scholarships that are available to
support women deprived of educational opportunities.
Young Pakistani women face many societal barriers in terms
of religions and social expectations when trying to obtain an
education. Cultural taboos present many obstacles and barriers
that function to suppress the educational opportunities of women
in Pakistan enforced through violence by the Taliban. Traditional
beliefs culturally engrained into elders stigmatize the pursuit of
higher education instead of early marriage. As a matter of fact, the
Sonia Shah school in Kangra, Pakistan was bombed which was
expensive to repair and a new state of the art security system had to
be installed.

26 CHESTER COUNT Y Medicine | SPRING 2020

Figure 1: The Sonia Shah School in Kangra,
Pakistan
In 2016 at the Let Girls Learn event in London, which
discussed female education worldwide, former first lady Michelle
Obama noted in her speech, "It's not just about access to
scholarships or transportation or school bathrooms. It's also about
attitudes and beliefs." These girls have the same bright intellect
and work ethic as we do; however, because of their gender, they
are treated as second-class citizens who are unworthy of basic
education. They are silenced when they protest and are simply
shadows in society.
Grade school-age students must rely upon family financial
support to purchase the educational materials that are needed to
ensure their success. Given the impoverished state of many families
in Pakistan, difficult choices result in which more male children
tend to be supported in their education than female siblings.
The deprivation of universally available course materials would
not be consequential if Pakistani schools uniformly had access
to electricity. If this were the case, female students deprived of
class materials could benefit from the use of technology and class
presentations.
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