Session 1: GIRLTopia: What is it all about?

                This journey is a chance to imagine a perfect world for girls.  I will e creating this vision thru “art” – which for me is photography and poetry. 

            As I look toward my “vision” I am working on an IP called Global Girls. This badge is an old one so it has been discontinued. I am very glad that my mother found this badge for me because it has helped me see that around the world, not all girls are treated as “respectfully” as they are in the US.

            Working towards this badge has “enlightened” me about the issues going on in third world countries such as Afghanistan and India, and their actions toward, not only women, but girls. I learned while working on this badge that in Afghanistan the people there marry off women at such a young age. Most girls are married off at age 8, and then when they reach puberty age such as 11 or 13, they are transferred from their family’s home and village to their husband’s home and village.

            It is not illegal in Afghanistan to marry off girls at such a young age, but in India it is. The law says that the a girl cannot marry until she is 18, due to health issues and diseases that can be obtained if married and exposed to sexual intercourse before they are physically ready for it. But even though the law says so, the people still marry of six year olds and eight years olds. This happens mostly for “family honor” or it is done to mend a feud between families, or even because a man will pay money to marry a young girl. The ceremony of “binding” is done usually in the wee hours of morning when others are asleep. Many people are caught, but not many stay in jail. In both countries this is the decision of the fathers, brothers, uncles – basically the men of the family.  The girls and mom’s have NO say in the decision. Men in third world countries live like kings, while the women have to strive to survive under them.

            As a senior scout – creating a vision of a Utopian society for girls – I feel that if more girls and women around the world are educated about how other girls/women live that it will make it easier for women in those countries to work on getting their own voice.  I feel those countries would benefit from female leaders and those girls would have a voice.  I even added my voice to the WAGGS violence against girls campaign.  http://www.wagggsworld.org/en/take_action/violence -- “In an ideal world for girls, the world will be more ideal for everyone.”

            In the girl “book” for GirlTopia – they refer to Juliette Gordon Low as a True GIRLtopia Visionary --  “I want to appeal to every Girl Scout,” she said, “to  . . . help to make a newer and better world.”

            If you would like to learn more about this subject through this badge, go to http://www.scoutingweb.com/scoutingweb/Documents/Global%20Girls.pdf