Women Around the World

It is common for us to see a woman driving down the street.  In our society eighteen years old seems like a very young age to get married.  What we don’t realize is that this is not the case in many other places around the world.  In comparison to America, the roll women play in other societies is very different.  On May 2^nd the Chico Study Abroad program presented a panel of five international women for International Education Week.  The women were Chico State students, selected from the hundreds of international students that we have on our campus.  The panel was presented in a very laid back atmosphere in a small room in the BMU which made a very comfortable environment for the forum. 

The discussion consisted mainly of their experiences living in their own countries and the roll that women play in those particular countries.  I found it interesting that in Saudi Arabia women aren’t even allowed to drive.  This is such a crazy concept to me.  It shows how much differently women are perceived in their country.  I also found it interesting to hear about the Chinese policy of one child per family from somebody that lived there.  Although I agree with a policy to limit population growth, I can’t conceive what it would be like to not be wanted by your parents because of your gender.  However, as evidenced by our discussion of globalization, in India women have been assuming a more independent role in society and are now more and more Indian women are attending technical colleges.  Another surprising thing was that the marriage age for girls in Costa Rica is, as the saying there goes, “as soon as they can cook.”  This is such a contrast to our society where the trend has become to get married later and later in life.  The difference in the lives of women in different countries was rather surprising for me.

For me, the forum was a real eye opener.  Having women native to these other countries talk to us really gave great insight into how they live.  I was very surprised by how many differences there were.