In today’s society, it is unfortunate that hearing all the injustice that takes place in the world has become a part of the norm. Instances of crime, war, and inequality fill the headlines of the news on a daily basis. These occurrences have become so common that often times, people are barely affected by what they hear anymore. Sometimes the only way a story truly resonates with someone is when they see a picture that will forever be embedded into their mind. The image of “Schoolgirls in Sierra Leone”, illustrated by Tugela Ridley, appeals to the emotions of the viewer in order to show that a major global civil rights issue of this time is the education of girls. The author uses body language, order, and plays to the viewer’s emotions, in order to depict a meaningful image that will hopefully influence the viewer to make a difference. 

The illustrator uses the visual technique of body language to truly depict the meaning of this visual text. The image shows rows of young African girls lined up in their school uniforms. Some of the girls are covering their eyes, while others are covering their mouths.  The way I interpreted this image was that we, as a society, cannot close our eyes and our mouths to this huge global injustice. Across the globe, thousands of young women are being denied an education and the same rights as even their own brothers. Girls are often viewed as weak, less intelligent, and not as “worth it”. If a family cannot afford to send all of their children to school, they will choose their sons over their daughters, and this is solely because of their gender. This means that smart, young women miss out on the opportunity to create a better future for themselves. Instead of receiving an education, they often times are forced into marriage at a young age, or have to settle for being a house wife and work for minimal pay. There is even the common possibility that they will be trapped into becoming prostitutes. It is unfair that children are not given the same chance to make something of themselves in some countries because they are not male. This inequality is what the illustrator is telling the viewer they cannot ignore and pretend they are unaware of. 

Along with the technique of using body language, the illustrator also uses the elements of order and discipline in this picture. Not only are all the girls lined up in rows, they are all wearing matching school uniforms, and for the most part look similar. The viewer’s eyes are drawn to the middle of the image because this girl is not like the rest; she is the only one who is making direct eye contact with the viewer. The look in her eyes tells a story of struggle, burden, and disappointment. All her life she has had to overcome the adversity of being told she is not good enough, that she is not as capable as boys, and that her life does not matter as much. However, she is one of the lucky ones. Even though she had to fight for her right to learn and go to school, there are thousands of girls never even make it that far. Across the globe, innocent girls are denied the opportunity to better themselves, and aren’t even given a chance to learn how to read or write. That is the reason this image speaks such volumes. In order for a difference to be made in the world, people must actually see the sadness and pain in the eyes of these children. By lining the girls in order and making them look the same, the one child that is actually making eye contact adds contrast and stands out to the viewer. 

A man named Chernor Bah wrote a blog regarding this image of the schoolgirls in Sierra Leone. He was raised in Sierra Leone by a single mother, with two sisters by his side. He was given a first-hand experience of the major advantage it was to grow up being a boy in this country. “In Sierra Leone, about 90% of girls are subjected to female genital mutilation (or FGM), one of the highest rates in the world. Only 36% of women in Sierra Leone are literate, compared with 52% of men. Furthermore, 18% of girls are married by the age of 15, and 44% by the age of 18. It’s illegal but, with little enforcement of those laws, widespread.” (Bah, “Schoolgirls in Sierra Leone”). It is heartbreaking to hear that even if a female showed more potential than the boy standing next to her, she was overlooked. No one seemed to care that uneducated women would lead to a direct path of poverty and challenges for them. The author of this photograph relates to the emotions of the reader by portraying the innocence of the young girls in hopes that the viewer may be called to act upon this civil right issue. 

Bah states that in order for this inequality to change, we must attack the preconceived notion that women are inferior, by giving evidence of successful women. He says, “As boys and men see more educated girls in their midst, I believe they will be more likely to abandon their archaic perceptions of women as inferior and mere sexual objects with no meaningful role to play outside the home.” Investing in the education of girls will not only improve the economic, social, and health benefits for women, but for the whole world. Bah has personally created programs that persuade and inspire young men to not only value the education of women, but to value a women’s worth as well. He works with those young men who know that the inequality of gender in the world is wrong, yet they may be embarrassed to seem less “manly” if they take a stand against this issue. Bah’s platform is a happy medium that allows these kids to do what is right without seeming emasculated for supporting women’s rights. However, even with the slight progress that is being made, it is still a tough pill to swallow when one hears that “nearly 1% of the world’s adult population is still not literate; two-thirds of them are women”, according to The International Center for Research on Women.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Just hearing about the injustice young girls face in countries like Sierra Leone is upsetting, but speaks much higher volumes when one can actually see the pain in a little girls’ eyes. Tugela Ridley uses the visual techniques of body language and order to get across that we, as a nation, cannot pretend that this global civil rights issue is not prominent in this day and age. He invokes the sentiments of the viewer in order to call attention to this matter. Closing our eyes and mouths to the situation, only makes it worse. After all, when you educate a woman, you empower an entire generation.
