Educated : A Memoir - Tara Westover | Summarized Books

Educated : A Memoir

Women have been denied a basic human right for as long as society has existed, often restricting their only education to the ones that help them serve men better

For centuries, the female folk have had to endure the crushing oppression of several instituted rules, concepts and beliefs. It is as if once one is born female, their lives have been designed and decided for them by the men in their lives and that their continued existence is at the mercy of these same men. The struggles of a woman growing up in a world that tells her how to be in accordance with religion, society’s standards and the patriarchy are made clear by the author through vivid examples and apt descriptive tools.

One of the struggles a woman has to face as she exists side by side with men is a lack of education. The word “lack” here fails to fully grasp or relay the stark reality of the refusal to educate females. In some societies and cultures, it is seen as a waste of resources to educate a girl child as she would only grow to answer another man’s last-name or she would become too rebellious and as such to keep her in check, it is best to stifle any kind of exposure to knowledge.

Education, being one of the basic needs of any human being, is essential because it gives us a knowledge of the world around us and changes it into something better. It develops in us a perspective of looking at life. It helps us build opinions and have points of view on things in life. Although you can get educated in a school, there are so many other means by which one can be educated.

As seen above, education arms one with the tools needed to form and express one’s thoughts properly about certain issues around them. It would then seem logical that you’d want everyone around you to get an education and benefit from such a marvelous opportunity, right? Well, not if you wish to keep them in check, keep them from forming their own opinions, especially when you have made yourself their only source of information and facts. This desire to control the female folk is the main reason they have been deprived of a sound education.

Men fear that an education would render their control irrelevant once women realize their true worth and demand better treatment. This has manifested for ages with several cultures only sending their male offspring to school, leaving the females at home to farm or join in the family business. Some believe the highest honor a woman requires is marriage and as such any ambition to do otherwise is frowned upon. Remember that education is necessary because it helps frame a shaky mind, so without it, these women are unable to object or even recognize that they are being grossly betrayed and disenfranchised by the people they have come to trust. Their fathers, brothers, husbands; men who only see women as pesky creatures who need to be put in their place — firmly and submissively under them perpetually.

Women are often made to act accordingly through the addition of physical abuse as a form of discipline

The deprivation of quality or any kind of education for that matter is a form of abuse, since it robs the female folk of a basic human right. But this isn’t the only form of abuse they are forced to endure.Many cases and reports of physical abuse to women are very common. It is a part of the general idea of patriarchy that women are weaker less capable people and that they are to be put under submission whichever way is deemed necessary.

You’d see cases of female children having to endure undue physical abuse from their fathers, brothers and even their own mothers. It is disguised as chastising or correction but the truth is, it is just plain abuse. If a child commits an offense, there are proper, more humane ways to instill discipline or correction, even if the child isn’t yours.Tara Westoverdescribes in detail how her brother would always physically abuse her for reasons best known to him as a child growing up, coupled with the fact that her dad would oftentimes toss heavy junk parts at her whileshe worked with him at the wreck yard.

Even when these women who were abused as kids grow up, they aren’t seen as full humans yet, and still must be “disciplined” with what can only be truly described as physical abuse. Husbands resort to taking out their frustrations with the marriage, with work, with their financial status or with literally anything really on their wives in repeated bouts of physical abuse. Men who do this either had a history of abusing women when growing up themselves or they watched their fathers or caregivers abuse their own wives. Most times, both are the case.

It is shocking that even to this day, many women and young females endure some form of physical abuse in silence either in marriages or their homes. It is a fact that the perpetrators of this abuse are often people these women and young females trust expressly and look up to for protection and care. It is the most frightening thing to offer up the power to be protected and kept safe to someone who sees that vulnerability as a chance to oppress and abuse you any chance they get. But this is the reality most women and young females have been made to endure and are still doing so.

Tara Westoveris able to vividly relay to the readers a very relatable angle, throwing her weight behind a topic often discussed but never taken seriously. The effects; both present and for the future, are made crystal clear, the psychological implications also are profound and resonant throughout the story. It not only brings to light the ignored truths, but forces people to take notice and spur them to think for themselves. Physical abuse is often brushed aside, justified, or most prominently, hidden from prying eyes often due to threats of more abuse. The victims are often manipulated into silence and suffer alone until they die from the consistent abuse and poor medical care

Patriarchy is a system set up to favor men and put women in a position where they can’t benefit from the opportunities that should rightly be theirs

The continued abuse of the victims is often solidified by the system that favors males over females, the system of patriarchy.

It places more importance on the men in the family, society and any work of life. This is what shields male abusers from any kind of punishment for their vile actions.

Patriarchy has been convoluted and twisted into something much darker than it already was. Today, as it was for centuries, it has become a social construct where the woman folk is put down to a great extent; in the labor market, and in the home. The girl child is grossly disregarded and disenfranchised due to the tight fist of patriarchy and the only way she can gain relevance is to do or be anything that will be pleasing to the male folk.

Women are taught from a young age to look, act, and talk a certain way or they’ll be unfit for the one and only goal that men think women aspire or should aspire to — marriage. The actions of the girl child are tailored to fit into the dictates of this instituted system that serves only the needs of men. Patriarchy makes it so that the man and boy child are untouchable and never made to answer for their ill behaviors. There is a common saying tossed around — “boys will be boys”. This phrase is often used to blot out any offenses or wrongdoings committed by amalechild.

Meanwhile, thefemalechild is forced to behave, to be proper, to act in a way that is pleasing to the guidelines set by the patriarchy. When girls make a mistake, it is met with fiercer scolding and zero grounds for forgiveness which is in a sharp contrast to the treatment themalechild gets. Patriarchy essentially places the man of the house as the pinnacle of the family and gets to decide the fates of everyone in his household. As a result, he can simply damn the female members to a fate they cannot object to because he is the law they obey and live by.

It is this absolute power given to the males that make it difficult to put an end to the abuse and deprivation of rights due to the female folk, you see, patriarchy protects the abusers and shelters them from any kind of punishment and denies the victimsofany kind of justice

Religion has been used as a propagator for the hatred and contempt for the female population at large

Another social system that has been used to stifle the rights of female folk is religion.Westoversamples her own religion as a case point, to show just how radical application of any concept can become more an enslavement than a way of life. Many of the religious beliefs are tied in greatly with the patriarchal setup which places the father and males in the family as godlike personalities.

Westovershares her own experiences with a radical religious upbringing and the dire consequences. Her father was a paranoid and immutable man, his delusions enforced by his religious doctrines and beliefs. This, backed up by his survivalist mindset, strengthened his desire to keep his children from the outside world as he believes that the world was ending. He also believed that before it ended, the world would corrupt his children with heathenish teachings. He was convinced that the American schooling system was poisoning the minds of whoever was a part of it and as such to “protect his children,” he kept them at home and was homeschooling them instead.

But because all her father knew was from his religious teachings, his kids learned to read from the Bible and their only idea of education was limited to whatever he told them. In his own way, he believed he was doing what was best for himself and his family by putting them in a safety bubble of some sort. His conviction was backed up by the stern system of his restrictive religion.

Religion serves as a tool to control and subjugate people by limiting their knowledge of what is seen as the general truth.Education is very vital because it opens up the mind of the recipient to a vast ocean of ideas and answers to questions you didn’t even know you needed to ask. This kind of exposure and power invalidates the limited truths the religion dictates and as such it doesn’t welcome any kind of external education or exposure asides its own scripted laws.

This refusal to allow followers to learn from any other source but that of the religion ties firmly into the patriarchy’s decision to deny females an education. This is because oftentimes, religion disenfranchises the female folk and enforces this with a poor(or an absence of) education.This way, they don’t even know what rights they have beendenied andare unaware of what basic rights are accrued to them to begin with.

Religion, along with the underlying patriarchy, has been able to continue this dark legacy of slavery and subjugation of the female folk and it continues till this day.

There is a growing contempt for the female folk and it has informed the actions of as many who wish have a prejudice against them

While religion and patriarchy have managed to keep women down, the driving force has always been the contempt for them. This feeling of inequality directed towards the female folk is misogyny.

Misogynygoes far beyond the demands of the patriarchy;in fact, it is the driving force behind the segregation and unfair treatment that women receive in society.

Misogyny is predominant because of years of actual practice to put down the woman folk, because even though the women are qualified, the male counterparts still do not see a reason to give them what they deserve.

Misogyny says that women aren’t good enough for certain roles or are simply ineligible for a position merely because of their gender. It refuses to give benefit of the doubt;females aren’t even employable or get promotions because they’re seen as incapable of handling responsibilities. They are seen as weaker, flawed and ill – equipped to make serious decisions and therefore deprived of the same opportunities the opposite gender would benefit from.

Women are being denied basic opportunities because of a prejudice against them and it can be extremely frustrating because they might have worked even harder than the male counterparts.

Owing to the growing influence of misogyny, females have been forced to subject themselves to acts that will be pleasing to the male population in order to get what basic rights are theirs. For jobs they are qualified for, they have to employ sexual advances or offer up their bodies for some kind of pass into misogynist favor

To truly free oneself of the binds of religion and other enslaving social concepts, one must arm oneself with a healthy education

Education remains the greatest gift you can give anyone, no matter the gender.Tara Westovertells us how education helped her to see the world clearly and helped her make sense of her world and how she fit into everything. Her life growing up had consisted only of what her father told her was and she was deprived of vital knowledge about the world.

Education broadens the mind and gives one cause to think for themselves in situations where one would normally be confused.

Westoverhad to move off to college to open up her world, but her education wasn’t only one from the four walls of a university. She had lived a life withdrawn from just about everything and everyonesomerely leaving the house was a huge amount of education already for her. It showed that her blank mind was in need of some major impartation and she got it.

This shows that education is a very important part of the growth of any human, whether girl or boy.

The introduction of education into the mix nullifies the effect and hold of religion, patriarchy and misogyny and prepares the multitude of females making their way through the ranks to benefit from this new found strength.

Education is an eye opener and a liberation from the bondage of enslaving systems and social constructs.

Conclusion

Women have had to endure a lot of oppression since time began;each day a new tool or law is set up that reduces the humanity a woman possesses. She is deprived of school growing up, abused by men she trusts, deserted by caregivers and kept in check by the system of patriarchy and religion.The denial ofa proper education is one of the vilest of these injustices and should be fought in every corner of the world. As individuals we have a duty to help where we can to ensure that female children are given the same opportunities to groom their minds as their male counterparts

Try this:
You don’t need a classroom to get an education, take up reading and increase your knowledge, engage your mind also in active learning, picking up bits and pieces as you go. Your will and desire to learn is the major factor in your education so do not be afraid to take the steps on your own