Sao Lao

I saw a new piece about the gap between Lao girls vs Lao boys in the area of education and it made me sad to know that in so many places (Laos for one), being born as a girl doesn’t give you much value as being born as a boy. The news coverage didn’t go into details or listed statistics of the percentage of boys attending school vs girls in Laos except for the fact that the gap is still quite high.

The news coverage gave several reasons as to why Lao girls attend school less than Lao boys. Poverty is the number one reason for lack of education for Lao girls. Poor people can’t afford to send all their children to school so when push comes to shove, they choose to have their son(s) to attend school rather than their daughter(s). At the same time, parents rely on the girls’ help around the house. While boys are not expected to pitch in, the girls have to stay home to cook and clean, take care of their younger siblings, help in the rice field, or assist the parents in the family trade.

I am not surprised to hear about why Lao girls receive less education than Lao boys. When I was attending primary school in Laos, many of my friends didn’t go to school. The two sisters living next door had to take care of their youngest brother and help the mother weave. Two other girls, living two doors down also had a younger brother with only one parent. Their father left the country leaving the mother behind with three young children. So the mother was trying to feed the family by making beef jerkey and selling it at That Luang market.

I was the lucky one to be born into a family that knew the value of education. We were poor but my parents made sure all of us attend school. They said education was the key to a better future and they made sure we took our study seriously. Our mother was working two extra jobs while attending medical school so she could afford to buy uniforms and school supplies for us. At times, we were facing starvation with nothing to eat, except for sticky rice with salt for breakfast and lunch. I will never forget the experience of picking grass with my mother so she could make “soup pak” for dinner.

What a tragic fact that most Lao girls will never get a chance to realized their potentials because of poverty and certain circumstances.

     Tags: Poverty

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