Cause and Effect Essay

April 5, 2024

                                                                        Family Struggles

 Education is a fundamental right of every individual, but this was not true in Nepal, which had gender bias in education before 1990. At that time, my grandmother and mother were affected by these government laws, which didn’t let women study and pushed them into the darkness of life without education. In fact, the government laws allowed only men to go to school and college because in Nepal, there was one school called a Gurukul in each state. People wanted to study, they needed to stay in Gurukul for years. When, People needed to leave their home and family, but women could not do that their whole life since their society didn’t give permission to women go outside the home. Although the laws and society didn’t give them permission to go to school, a woman from a rich family could go to a gurukul and finish her studies.  My grandmother and mother were middle class, and society thought if a woman left her home, she walked on a bad path. Then, she would have a hard time choosing her life partner in life because that was not good for our Hindu religion. Thus, the Nepali government’s law of education or gender discrimination has badly affected my family’s future and my life.

When my grandmother was young, the educational laws and rules had created lack of Knowledge in her life. She never went to school in her life, so she didn’t know anything about studying. My grandmother did not have any skills or work experience when she got married. She didn’t know what was right or what was wrong in her life. She thought her family and society were always right whenever they talked about women, so she stayed at home and she worked hard in her life. She could work at home in areas such as cooking, cleaning, and farming rather than professional jobs. In addition, she did not know about family planning. When she got married to my grandfather, she was thirteen and she had no idea about married life and started having children at an early age. My grandmother’s family thought if their daughter got married before her period, they would be so lucky in their life because that was good luck in the Hindu religion. My grandmother got married early, and she had twelve children. Therefore, the lack of education affected my grandmother’s life so badly, which meant she needed to struggle in her life.

Additionally, gender bias in education affected my mother’s life because she has always depended on her father and husband. She said, when she was younger, she could not go to school because she needed to care for her siblings, so she depended on her father. After marriage, she needed to depend on her husband. If she needed any kind of help, she had to talk to her husband because she was uneducated and jobless. My mother said that her family was unfair to her when it came to education. She has had no opportunity to study, so she wasn’t ever happy to be a woman. In addition, she could not buy any necessary things such as food, clothes, or medicine. She always told her husband about what she needed, and she had to struggle for everything. She had to cook, clean, and farm because she did not have the skills to do a job for money. Also, my mother could not go outside because she lacked money and didn’t know how to get around. She needed help to go anywhere because she could not read the name of streets, states, and directions where she needed to go. Due to the educational laws, my mother had to remain inside most of her life.

Finally, gender discrimination in education also affected my life. In 1990, Nepal had a big strike in education, and everybody debated about it. The secretary of education said education should be equal and fair for everyone, including women. At that time, the government had changed all laws of education. After that, I could go to school and college, but I could not get quality education and could not complete the education that I needed. I could go to local schools, but I could not go to city college because I belonged to a middle-class family. I did not have enough money for quality education because of family income. My family said I should get married earlier because society did not give me permission to stay at my mother’s house past the age of twenty. I eventually went to a school and college near my house, but I did not get a quality of education. However, nowadays, I am in the United States, and I started go to college. I am going to the City Colleges of Chicago and my major is nursing. I hope I will be successful in my career, and I can do professional jobs one day.

              In conclusion, educational rules and regulations have affected many generations of my family. My grandmother, mother and I have also been affected by these laws and regulations because due to these laws, we had to hide in the dark and live without knowledge. My grandmother and mother had a difficult time raising their children and working at home. By contrast, I can go to college and have a chance to learn something in my life. If I got quality education in Nepal, I would not have faced any problems in my life. Therefore, I hope I will be successful in the future, and hope that all women everywhere can get education.