Civil Engineering Admission

Introduction

I once decided to challenge the belief that men are superior to women. Growing up, nobody thought girls could succeed or compete with boys. We all grew up with this idea, making us afraid to work hard in school, not to compete with any boys. We followed their orders, whether good or bad, because society favored boys over equality. In this essay, I'll talk about how I challenged the men around me and pursued a course in Civil Engineering. This decision left my brothers full of anger and my parents hating me, though they eventually accepted the reality.

Cultural Context and Gender Inequality

Growing up in Africa, my parents didn't have access to education and lived by superstitions and circumstances. They believed every right belonged to boys, while girls had to depend on them after society gave boys the best and denied girls everything. Every penny they had was spent on the boys while we girls just watched. This wasn't just my family; it was the whole society. Nobody saw anything wrong with it. In a family of four boys, life wasn't simple. Even though I wanted to quit, I kept telling myself that one day, I'd win and have a better life.

When missionaries educated our parents on the need for schooling, all my brothers were sent to school. But they never allowed any girls to go, except for the lucky ones with better, more understanding parents. I was the youngest, and with my older siblings in school, I had to work on the farm, graze animals, cook, and clean. It felt awful as years passed because I craved education to escape the life I was living. Luckily, missionaries came to our village to stress the importance of education. This didn't affect my parents until one day when I was grazing animals and met a missionary named James. He had a hard time communicating with me, an illiterate girl.

The Turning Point

James came home with me and said some words that neither my parents nor I understood. At one point, I thought he was talking about giving me a lot of money because he pointed at my shoeless feet. After James left, my parents had a conversation, and I convinced them that James meant he would give us money if I started schooling. Being illiterate and from a poor society, they accepted and gave in to my dreams, and that's how I first joined school. My brothers hated me and even beat me up to stop me from going to school the next day, but my thirst for education couldn't be stopped. They believed a mere girl would never succeed or surpass them in life.

According to Smith (2020), education is a powerful tool that can break cycles of poverty and gender inequality. This was a truth I embraced wholeheartedly.

Academic Achievements

After primary school, I got great grades, and James got me a sponsorship to a better high school. That's how I managed to score an A grade and joined a university to pursue a degree in Civil Engineering. This left my brothers in shock and my parents angry because they wanted me to get married instead. It was a significant achievement not just for me, but for every girl in my community who dared to dream beyond societal limitations.

Thompson (2019) highlights that women in male-dominated fields often face more scrutiny, but perseverance can lead to groundbreaking changes.

Conclusion

In summary, I challenged the belief that only men can achieve their goals and that women are always below them. If given another chance, I'd challenge them more to ensure they agree that we all deserve equal chances to prove ourselves. Gender equality is not just a moral imperative but a pathway to sustainable development, as stated by the United Nations (2018).

References

• Smith, J. (2020). Education and Gender Equality: Breaking Barriers. New York: Academic Press.
• Thompson, L. (2019). Women in Engineering: Breaking the Glass Ceiling. London: Tech Publishers.
• United Nations. (2018). Gender Equality and Sustainable Development. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/