Beyond the classroom: The hidden barriers to girl's aspirations

“I know I can achieve whatever I wish to – if only my family supports me and doesn’t marry me off.” Kalpana, a 16-year-old girl, almost broke down while saying this to me. I met her and many others of the same age group in an urban slum cluster in Delhi. It was part of a small research project that focused on understanding why high school students from weaker socio-economic backgrounds choose specific careers and what drives those choices, and the difference in the way a girl and a boy make them.

Privilege and ignorance can influence the vision when assessing how the world truly is. During this project, I interviewed some girls and boys. As a girl from the upper middle class, I always felt that my gender does not necessarily limit the opportunities I got in life. I do believe that every young girl faces some form of sexism and discrimination. Still, in my life and in the lives of girls, who are my peers in school, we don’t remember facing sexism to the point where we feel it is negatively impacting our abilities and our goals.

Due to this partial understanding, I had assumed that the girls and boys would have similar challenges and would mostly talk about the lack of financial support when it came to achieving their dreams.

Of all the girls I interviewed, everyone spoke about gender as one of their most significant barriers. If not gender, barriers are enforced by their family, and then by their community. They shared about the pressure to get married from society. The conversations with them showed me that even in an urban Indian city, which we consider far more modern and liberal, women are still seen as prospective wives and then as human beings with aspirations.

While a number of girls and boys spoke about the lack of facilities and financial resources, some of the girls talked about the lack of support from their families. If not for lack of support, they mentioned how it almost felt like being on a ‘ticking time bomb’ for their aspirations.

In India, around 27 per cent of girls (according to UNICEF data 2020) are married off before their 18th birthday, and marriage eventually curtails any aspirations they may have had of seeking further education or employment.

According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2022, dropout rates among girls increase considerably at the secondary and higher secondary levels. All of this data resonates with what I learned from the group of girls. While we make considerable leaps in gender equality every day, there are still so many lives that remain affected due to gender bias.

There are still so many girls who lack the opportunity to try to live out their dreams. Conversely, boys make their career choices without fearing of being married off. The palpable pressure was about earning their livelihood as soon as possible. What came out was a glimmer of hope that despite facing family pressure, many girls showed the courage to say they would fight for their financial independence.

“My mother is a homemaker, but I know she will fight for me to complete my studies and not get married off – she is my role model,” Shabana said with a broad smile.