Essay on Contrasting Girls in the United States to Girls in Other Regions

Since the dawn of time, people have thought differently, fared differently and acted differently from each other. Differences in people often arise as a result of their experiences, values, learning, training, geographical location and culture. The values that a particular country or community holds onto may differ from that of another, and this goes a long way in shaping the lives of the people in this community, their personality and behaviour. Children in third world countries for example, definitely from those in the United States regarding access to learning opportunities, However, it should not be forgotten that despite our differences in culture, values and geography, we are unified by everyday needs, goals and challenges. For instance, problems faced an individual in the United States of America may be the same as that in Africa. Gender discrimination is a good example in this case. I think that experiencing the same challenges and situations is natures way of reminding us that we are all human. That despite our cultural differences, geographical location, race and religion, deep down we are all human. We are all connected as one large family, and we must make this world a better place for our brothers and sisters. In this text, I aim at shedding light on how girls in the United States of America differ from girls in other regions of the world.

Girls in the United States have easier access to education as compared to those in African countries. A good case is that of South Sudan. Many African countries have their citizens deeply rooted in culture. As much as they would boast of their rich cultural heritage, some of these cultural values and stereotypes are a cause of gender disparity in education, with girls being the most affected. In Southern Sudan, educating the girl child is not seen as a noble course since culturally, the girl comes secondary to the male child. For this reason, most of the girls are illiterate since some of them never step into a classroom. In the United States, cases of cultural practices that discriminate against girls regarding education are rare.

The number of girls suffering as a result of teenage pregnancy also differs significantly. African and Asian countries record an enormous value of adolescent pregnancy cases. Again as stated earlier, this is as a result of their cultural background. In Ethiopia for instance, most girls aged between 12 18 are usually married (Kulin 29). In some of the communities in this country, the value of the girl is mostly expressed at home and in childbearing. A girl is not valuable if she does not bear children and consequently, many girls are married off at a young age. This in return adds onto the growing number of teenage pregnancies in the region.

Majority of the girls in the United States wear revealing clothes while girls in Saudi Arabia hardly do. Culture and religion significantly contribute to this specifically in the case of Arabic countries such as Saudi Arabia. Keeping in mind that the dominating faith in this country in Islam, many of their cultural practices and beliefs are based on the Koran. Hardly will you see an Islamic girl in a mini-skirt, since the religion prohibits such bodily exposure. Most are dressed in Hijab. A girls body belongs to her husband and not the public. In the United States, however, fashion is much embraced and issues about the dos and donts in the female code of dressing hardly come up.

The issue of pornography among young children and adults has been in the spotlight more than once. Pornography hurts children, families, and society. Here in the United States, cases have been reported of pornography exposure to children as young as 11 years (David, Finkelhor et al. 20). Hence, girls in the United States are exposed to pornography at a younger age as compared to a country such as Kenya in Africa. Pornographic materials are all over in the United States. In magazines, TV channels and especially the internet. Girls here are likely to be exposed earlier since our country has experienced great technological revolution in this era of the big-data where sharing of information has been made easier especially over the internet. On the contrary, girls in Kenya are less likely to be exposed to pornography at an early age since most of the families cannot afford to pay for internet services. The government is also at the frontline to prevent publication of any pornographic content to the public.

Girls in the United States have more access to sanitary facilities as compared to African countries. Girls in Sub-Sahara Africa are specifically affected by this. Due to poverty, the inadequacy of water and lack of sanitary education, most of them do not even know the adverse effects that poor sanitation would pose to their health. For example, many girls during puberty cannot access sanitary towels and end up improvising them. Some use old rags, newspapers and mud. (Julie, Fisher et al. 67) Sanitary problems also affect the girls education since many of them shun schools and learning institutions during their menses due to lack of privacy and proper disposal means in their institutions of learning.

Cited Works

Crofts, Tracey, and Julie Fisher. "Menstrual hygiene in Ugandan schools: an investigation of low-cost sanitary pads." Journal of Water Sanitation and Hygiene for Development 2.1 (2012): 50-58.

Sabina, Chiara, Janis Wolak, and David Finkelhor. "The nature and dynamics of Internet pornography exposure for youth." CyberPsychology & Behavior 11.6 (2010): 691-693.

Kulin, Howard E. "Adolescent pregnancy in Africa: a programmatic focus." Social science & medicine 26.7 (20131988): 727-735.