Save the Whales Girls!

My two young Chinese-born girls were abandoned as infants. My oldest was left in a box in the stairwell of a Chinese cigarette factory (let the two minutes' hate against Big Tobacco commence!). My youngest was placed in a box of her own in the middle of a traffic circle, where she cried her smog-filled little lungs out for hours, maybe days. Most likely, they were discarded in favor of boys — China's odious population-control policy at work.

So, really, I want to like the Girl Effect website. Of course girls deserve the same chances as boys. I'm, let's say, rather adamant about that.

I'm put off, though, by the facile implication of the site's makers that girls are the virtuous gender whose innate decency and quiet wisdom will somehow make the world all right.

Equality means treating everyone the same. That means not favoring one sex over the other.

There's something undeniably discriminatory about the assumption that if you give a girl an education, she will rise through the ranks and bless the community with her intelligence and superior judgment; whereas boys are the hopeless gender, not to be entrusted with such delicate things as leadership and vision.

On the other hand, I have donated to Greg Mortensen's Central Asia Institute, where girls' education is paramount, so what do I know?

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P.S.: For some reason, I get the feeling I won't have much to worry about with my daughters, learning- and empowerment-wise. Half an hour ago, just kinda goofing off on my Mac, I was teaching Jolie (4) the rudiments of Photoshop. Using the eyedropper tool, I showed her how to choose any color. "For instance, honey, here, let's pick brown." Her reply: "Daddy, that's more of a terracotta-rust shade." !! WTF is up with this kid?

Comments

[hanmeng]

A box of her own! As they say in classical Chinese, 嗚呼. Pronounced "Whoo-hoo!", but means "Alas!"