Imposter Syndrome and Girls Education

Dear Global Girls Imposter Syndrome & Girls' Education

Curricular Crises: A Look At Girls Education Internationally

Meet May's Gen Z of the month!

By: Naina Giri

A Glimpse of Malala Yousafzai’s Life

By Harini Sangeetham

What is imposter syndrome? by: Sandra Cheah and Talia Caskey

Celebrating the Achievements of Women by: Sandra Cheah

Magazine Cover by Palak Yadav May 2021 Edition

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Dear Global Girls @dearglobalgirls Dear GlobalGirls https://www.dearglobalgirls.org

OUR MESSAGE Dear GlobalGirls and fellow readers, Dear GlobalGirls is a monthly digital magazine dedicated to educate, inspire, and empower young girls around the globe. Our mission is to empower girls through educating them on current events and social issues, highlighting young girls who show leadership in their communities, and overall creating a welcoming and resourceful space. Founded by two Generation Z high school students from New York City, we strive to encourage girls to speak out for themselves, inspiring them to become the next leaders of our generation.

This month’s magazine focuses on the lack of education for girls and the effects of imposter syndrome on girls and young women. Our team worked diligently to research, and make sure to use their voices and shared personal stories, to bring light to the inequities around the fight for access to education. It is truly inspiring to see the voices of our writers come to life on paper, and we hope this month's magazine fosters interest in more girls pursuing higher education. If you are interested or want to learn more, be sure to read each piece and learn about the stories of these incredible pioneers of life-changing movements and hear from the voices of our passionate writers.

Throughout this magazine, we hope you've learned something new. Donate to organizations, create your own project to teach girls untraditional curricula like coding or research. Let's work together to fight against imposter syndrome and the lack of girls' education. All people should have equal access to education and have their recognitions be heard.

With these topics in mind, we are excited to see what is in store for Dear GlobalGirls as we continue to create monthly magazines serving to educate, inspire, and empower girls around the globe! We hope you take away a new piece of information and take your part in creating a more equitable society.

Lastly, a huge thank you to our team who have been dedicated to serving our organization in the creation of our monthly magazines. .

We’d love to hear all your thoughts and suggestions so please email us at dearglobalgirls@gmail.com to chat or give feedback.

Sincerely, Sandra and Talia (founders)

By: Naina Giri

Education is a privilege women have always fought to have, and globally, there are countless reasons as to why education is still a dilemma in 2021. The problem often spawns from the unfortunately common misconception that a girl merely belongs in the house, and should stick to the stereotypical roles of a woman. It is necessary to shatter this fallacy in order to open up possibilities and truly seek equality.

The water crisis is a lack of freshwater resources, and has affected many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Water is the most necessary resource on Earth, as it is life-sustaining. Humans use it for cooking, hygiene, agriculture, and of course, drinking. Families who don’t have access to running water in the form of taps, sinks, and/or showers must fetch water from direct sources like rivers, lakes, streams, etc. This responsibility nearly always falls on the women of the family. Oftentimes, this is a long journey across dangerous terrains to fetch water that is most likely contaminated and weighs near 40 pounds. Despite the effort gone into it, the water they bring back is limited, and usually carrying waterborne illnesses that would require excess water to be nursed back to health. It’s an ongoing vicious cycle that takes up time a girl could be putting into her education, leaving her piled with household responsibilities instead.

But if solutions were put into action, such as installing wells, all these girls could save 40 billion hours annually from fetching water, and deploy them into higher attendance rates at school, the equivalent of France’s workforce.

Furthermore, if the water they obtained was clean, families could utilize their money for books, uniforms, and supplies instead of medication. Then those same girls could grow up to have extensive careers, and maybe even go on to bring more awareness to the water crisis and invest in more solutions.

Therefore, I implore everyone reading this to go to this link: https://thewaterproject.org/commu nity/profile/nainas-campaign-forwater and donate to the water project so they can provide safe, clean water to communities on a global scale.

In other countries though, girls aren’t just unable to go to school, they have reason to fear pursuing education. In Nigeria, girls have been horribly affected by the terrorist organizationBoko Haram (meaning ‘Western education is forbidden’ in Hausa, a subSaharan African dialect). They are infamously known for the Chibok schoolgirls’ kidnapping, where almost 300 teenage girls were kidnapped from school on April 14th, 2014. As of now, 112 of them are still missing.

Additionally, in Pakistan, society has struggled with education due to many reasons including, but not limited to, low access, poorly trained educators, and gender bias. But the Tehrik-i-Taliban, shortly known as the Taliban (meaning ‘student’ in Pashto), have caused the greatest disruptions. They are also an Islamist military organization that has attacked any school that allows girls’ education, and made young women all over Pakistan fearful of pursuing an educationl. The Global Coalition to Prevent Education from Attack (GCPEA) claims that at least 838 of Pakistan’s schools were attacked in the span of three years (2009 - 2012).

In 2009, the Taliban organized a violent campaign forcing 900 schools to close, causing 120,000 students and 8,000 female teachers leaving school. They proceeded to order that schools with girls were not to be operated, because they believed it was promoting vulgarity and indecency. A 23 year old college student recollects, “I was in my room in the hostel when I heard the sound of heavy firing...there were six other students with me in my room...the militants knocked at our door, asking us to open it. I hid under the bed...they killed five of my friends in front of me...they lobbed a grenade in the room and left. I was very seriously injured by the shrapnel.

I was in the hospital for 20 days and..I suffer from nightmares and panic attacks.”

The PTSD created by this trauma is lifealtering, and there are so many more incidents similar to this. Since the Pakistani government doesn’t keep track of these attacks, there’s a chance the number of attacks is much higher than what is publicly known.

In light of all this, Nigeria and Pakistan must take action to provide safety for their students. One vital step would be to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration, which entails committing to bettering the prevention and response to future attacks.

The government should also devise policies for girls who have temporarily lost access to education due to attacks, and other countries should assist as well. Education is a basic human right regardless of any parts of identity, and it is important to understand and respect this.

A Glimpse of Malala Yousafzai’s Life

By Harini Sangeetham

Malala Yousafzai. She is a survivor of a gun incident, an activist who advocates for women’s rights on education, an influencer, the youngest nobel peace prize winner, and has achieved many more milestones. She was born in Mingora Pakistan on July 12, 1977 in the Swat Valley. Her father ran an all-girls school and was a teacher there. Ever since she could talk and walk, she had a passion for education and her father was supportive of that.

Everything was perfect for them until the Taliban took control of Swat Valley. They banned many personal rights such as education for girls and entertainment. There were severe punishments for those who disobeyed. But Malala didn’t let that stop her. She fought back with all her strength.

She blogged and spoke a speech at age 11 on the right for her education. The Taliban didn’t like this and she was targeted as a result.

On October 9 2012, a masked gunman came on to her school bus on the way to home. He was a part of the Taliban. Three gunshots were shot and one went through the left side of her head. She was airlifted to a hospital in Pakistan and then a few days later moved to England. There was no brain damage but she went through multiple surgeries before recovery. She didn’t even let this huge, almost fatal happening stop her. Malala had this fire inside of her and it never burned out.

The fuel for this fire included her determination and perseverance. She wanted to make an impact and she wouldn’t stop until she reached her goal.

After her well fought recovery, she created the Malala Fund. The Malala Fund is an organization that works on a global scale to give access to education for girls. Not only did she create an organization, she wrote a book alongside Christina Lamb and published “I am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban.” This book talks about all the experiences and hardships she went through to where she is today.

"Lets pick up our books and pencils they are our most powerful weapon" MALALA

She has managed to influence many lives through a variety of ways. Her words, her actions, and her gestures have changed everyone’s lives, whether they know it or not. She fought back even when nothing was good for her because she believed in what she did. She put her heart and soul into it to make a change for all those women. As for her, she continued higher studies in Oxford University. She continues her work through her organization to ensure girls get sufficient education.

Talia Caskey and Sandra Cheah Imposter syndrome can be defined as a collection of

persist despite evident success.

feelings of inadequacy that

‘Imposters’ suffer from chronic self-doubt and a

sense of intellectual fraudulence that override any feelings of success or external proof of their competence 4 signs of Imposter Syndrome: 1. You attribute your accomplishments to

luck rather than ability.

2. You have a fear of being found out and that someone will show you up to be a

fraud and not worthy of all the responsibilities you've been given.

3. You try to do every task so perfectly that you either procrastinate or over-prepare 4. When people compliment or praise you, it feels like you're getting away with something

When Think to yourself:

the

idea

of

imposter

syndrome

was

developed, the impact of systemic racism, classism, xenophobia, and other biases were

You can act differently than how you

not considered.

feel" Focus on the value you provide-not on

During

the

perfection.

people

of

"giving your best

≠

being the best"

studies, various

women

income

of

color

levels,

and

genders,

and professional backgrounds were ignored.

Remind yourself of the positive things people have said Take

control

positive

of

Even your

affirmations

negative talk

thinking, and

today,

imposter

syndrome

puts

the

use

blame on individuals, without accounting for

quash

the historical and cultural contexts that are foundational

to

how

it

develops

in

both

women of color and white women.

Oftentimes, we read about fixing women at work to resolve imposter syndrome, instead of

fixing the PLACES where women work.

The answer to overcoming imposter syndrome is to foster an environment that features a variety of leadership styles at which diverse racial, ethnic, and gender identities are included.

celebrating the achievements of

1

GRACE HOPPER

GRACE HOPPER

Grace Brewster Murray Hopper was a computer pioneer and naval officer. She received a master’s degree (1930) and a Ph.D. (1934) in mathematics from Yale. Hopper is best known for her contributions to the development of computer languages. She was described as irreverent, sharp-tongued, and brilliant, she enjoyed long and influential careers in both the U.S. Navy and the private sector.

After the United States’ entry into World War II, Hopper decided to join the war effort. She was initially rejected because of her age and diminutive size, however she persisted. Hopper took a leave of absence from Vassar, where she was an associate professor, in which she joined the U.S. Naval Reserve (Women’s Reserve) in December 1943 and worked for Howard Aiken at the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard University. During this time Hopper was responsible for programming the Mark I and punching machine instructions onto tape. She also wrote the 561-page user manual for the Mark I.

3

MARIE CURIE MARIE CURIE Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934) was a Polish physicist and chemist. She was an accomplished woman who won the 1903 Nobel Prize for physics for discovering radioactivity, thus coined the term “radio-active." She discovered the elements radium and polonium,.

Then in 1911, won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for isolating pure radium. Not only was she the few women at the time of scientific innovation, she essentially pioneered women in science. In addition, her contributions to the study of radium and radiation were instrumental to the future development of the atomic bomb

women in history

2

PRINCESS DIANA PRINCESS DIANA Princess Diana (1961-1997) became Lady Diana Spencer after her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer in 1975. She married the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, on July 29, 1981. They had two sons and later divorced in 1996. Diana died on August 31, 1997, from injuries she sustained in a car crash in Paris. She is remembered as the "People's Princess" because of her widespread popularity and global humanitarian efforts.

4

SOJOURNER TRUTH SOJOURNER TRUTH Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), was an American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born an enslaved person and labored for four masters until 1826 when she took her freedom from John Dumont, her last owner. Sojourner Truth later became an outspoken advocate for abolition and civil and women's rights in the nineteenth century. Her work earned her an invitation to meet President Abraham Lincoln in 1864. She is best-known for her speech on racial inequalities, "Ain't I a Woman?"

GEN Z OF THE MONTH

Risha Chaurasia

ABOUT RISHA: Risha Chaurasia is a teen author and blogger from India. At age 13, she has published two books called TRUCE and Tales of Twinkling Tweens. She wrote her first book at age 11. Apart from authoring books, she also runs an internationally viewed blog called Straight. From. My. Pen on Instagram. Having thousands of followers, the blog posts positive news and stories of incredible people. She is also a literature advocate and advocates the love of reading and books. She’s spoken at numerous public forums including the Indore Literature Festival, one of India’s prominent literature events. She has appeared on various podcasts and provides inspiration to many young girls to take up writing.

TALES OF TWINKLING TWEENS:

TRUCE: TRUCE-

a

novel

of

the

new

age

that

explores the themes of friendship, love, and self-discovery! The story revolves around 5

This book touches on various aspects of a

tween’s

through

life.

It

school

takes

the

readers

experiences—teachers,

relationships with friends, experiencing

protagonists-Tiya, Ron, Udit, Cayuga, and

bullying, examination pressure, annoying

Edi, with each one of them facing their own

habits

challenges. The story takes you through them

complex

fighting

many changes they undergo. Tweenage

against

and

uplifting

themselves

of

boys

emotions,

their

embracing

young adults. And they don’t do this alone.

childhood and adulthood. It is turbulent

and

relationships.

portrays

the

reality

The of

story today’s

beautifully youth

and

well

charters

as

a

into

crucial

and

girls,

is

as

most

and

from the issues and blooming into confident

They do this through the power of friendship

the

tween

fun

stage

time

of

unknown

between

life,

which

terrains

of

friendship, fun, and pranks.

provides a fresh perspective to the reader.

It’s all about finding the right people at the right time!

Imposter syndrome is something I dealt with and still do. Millions of books are published annually, and the majority by adult authors. In this pool of literature, I often feared getting lost and quote ‘my work not being good enough to compete with these professionals. I often questioned the quality of my writing. 11-year-old Risha, publishing her worst novel was not very confident of her work. But, 2 years later everything has changed. I’m confident now and am proud of my work. I’ve come a long way and the imposter syndrome (though still there) has decreased. There is only one way to get over it, and that is to believe in yourself. I believed in my skills, my writing and my dream. So believe in yourself. I've faced several other issues throughout my writing journey. People not believing in my work, lack of media support are some. But if anything got me through and kept me going was my passion for words. If you have a passion for something and truly love it, you will find a way!

To anyone dealing with imposter syndrome, Don't Worry! Believe in yourself! You are unique in your own self! There is and never will be anyone like you! Believe!

As youth, we have a responsibility on our shoulders. A responsibility to lead the future of this world. And trust me, each one of us has a voice! To make a difference, raise your voice. Use your voice for good and change will happen. If you see something wrong happening, speak up! Raise your voice!

Our May 2021 Team THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION AND DEDICATION!

LAUREN BYUN

SANDRA CHEAH

TALIA CASKEY

PALAK YADAV

HEAD DIRECTOR

MAGAZINE EDITOR

MAGAZINE EDITOR

COVER DESIGNER

KATELYN HOWARD

EVA EAPEN

EDITORS-IN-CHIEFS AND CO-DIRECTORS OF WRITING

HARINI SANGEETHAM WRITER

PATRICIA MERCADO EDITOR

ASMI GUJRAL WRITER

NAIA PIZARRO WRITER

RACHEL WONG

JASMINE REYES

EDITOR

EDITOR