GlobalGirl reporters cover the annual LAANE women’s luncheon, to celebrate 20 years of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, founded and largely run by women!

GlobalGirl Media and ISCA discuss Glow Camp in Morocco.

GlobalGirl Media and ISCA profile widows in Morocco.

GlobalGirl Media and ISCA partner to highlight the issue of high school dropouts in Morocco.

GlobalGirl Media and ISCA collaborate to profile nomad women in Morocco.

April 5, 2013

My mother startled me one recent evening when she told me to wear something nice because we were getting  visitors.

I know all my parents’ friends, so what was so special about these guests? Despite my concern, I did as my mother asked. I wore one of my simple modern dresses and a scarf as usual. A few minutes later, a father and his son arrived at our home.

I helped my mother in the kitchen as I usually do. But then she kept telling me to be polite. What is going on here?

While I was serving tea, my dad asked me to sit down. Then his friend started a conversation with me. He asked if I remembered me. But I did not. He explained that he and my father were good friends, and   that he wanted to solidify that friendship through marriage.

He wanted me to marry his son. I was quite shocked. I looked to my dad for help. My dad suggested that I spend some time with my “proposed husband’’ so we could get to know each other. The guy seemed to be nice and he was educated. What could I lose from talking to him?

What surprised me about the whole thing is that my parents never told me about this. My father, especially, has always pushed me to focus on my studies. I never suspected that he would want to marry me off at 19.

But my father quickly abandoned the idea when the young man and his father requested that I had to quit my studies.

My dad was furious. He did not think that his friend would be so closed-minded and ignorant to want a girl to drop out of school.

I say Hamdullah for my enlightened father. He has a PhD, and he wants me to get mine and pursue other higher educational and career opportunities.

I do realize that not many Moroccan girls have fathers like mine. It is a sad fact that in the 21st Century some girls in Morocco still have to choose between a husband and an education. We’re still stuck in this societal norm that encourages girls, especially those in rural areas, to get married at 14 or 15. The 2004 Mudawana code banned underage marriage, but the law is not enforced. Fathers in rural villages are marrying off their teen-age daughters to old men, some old enough to be their grandfathers.

As a society, we need to enforce Mudawana so that we can keep more girls in the classrooms until they finish high school and eventually move on to university.

What if my father was not enlightened? Where would I be? Perhaps, I would be barefoot and pregnant or married with two children, cooking, cleaning and baking bread all day long.

Today, I am a second-year university student majoring in English studies and actively involved in club activities at the university. I am a citizen journalist with GlobalGirl Media, a program that encourages young women to give voices to issues in their communities. Early marriage is one of those issues affecting Moroccan society.   I am also one of the young student leaders in the Yala  online academy. I am also a part of Yala Young leaders’ movement that is seeking   peace and equality in the MENA region.

Ten years from now, I hope to accomplish my academic goals and pursue a career as a leading female diplomat, advocating for young people and women in the region.

L.A. and Chicago Summer 2013 Media Academy Application

COMO AMAR: HOW TO LOVE: Episode One: Teen Pregnancy

The Global Girls profile Alexis Lopez, the 14-year-old mother of a 1-year-old girl. The Girls describe the social impacts of a teen pregnancy, including the fact that an astounding 41% of Latinas drop out of high school in Los Angeles due to pregnancy.

COMO AMAR: HOW TO LOVE: Episode Two: Fake Clinics

GlobalGirl Edith Romero reports on abortion clinics and Crisis Prevention Centers, or “fake clinics,” and asks the central question: are young women really given the right to choose, or are they actually being encouraged to continue with their pregnancies? Romero traces the disproportionate impact fake clinics have in lower-income communities, and outlines steps to distinguish fake clinics from neutral abortion clinics.

COMO AMAR: HOW TO LOVE: Episode Three: Human Trafficking

GlobalGirl Ariana Seymore reports the prominence and growth of sex trafficking in California. She interviews two sex-trafficking victims, as well as experts at trafficking rehabilitation centers, bringing to light the causes and consequences of this illegal practice.

COMO AMAR: HOW TO LOVE: Episode Four: Human Trafficking

GlobalGirl Ariana Seymore reports the prominence and growth of sex trafficking in California. She interviews two sex-trafficking victims, as well as experts at trafficking rehabilitation centers, bringing to light the causes and consequences of this illegal practice.

COMO AMAR: HOW TO LOVE: Episode Five: Health Education

GlobalGirl Wendy Garcia reports on sex education classes within the Los Angeles Unified School District. In interviewing the director of the LAUSD HIV/AIDS prevention unit, Garcia discovers that crime, obesity, teen pregnancy, self-mutilation and STD infection rates all increase without health education.

COMO AMAR: HOW TO LOVE: Episode Six: Body Image

GlobalGirls Yasmeen Abdullah and Imani Crenshaw explore the relationship between media representations of the female body and their experiences as teenagers in Los Angeles. Interviewing feminist scholars and academics, Abdullah and Crenshaw highlight the ways dominant culture promotes competition between women and hatred of one’s own body.

PDF GGM PR Material

PDF WEBISODES PROMO ONE PAGE

Photos to use:

Ariana Seymore

Wendy Garcia

Wendy Garcia and Ariana Seymore

Girls Walking

Left to right: Ariana Seymore, Andrea Reyes, Wendy Garcia, Yasmeen Abdullah, Imani Crenshaw

Andrea Reyes

Girls running

Left to right: Ariana Seymore, Andrea Reyes, Wendy Garcia, Yasmeen Abdullah, Imani Crenshaw

The Digital Media and Learning Conference is an annual event supported by the MacArthur Foundation and organized by the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub located at the UC Humanities Research Institute, University of California, Irvine. GlobalGirl Reporters were on the scene covering the 4th annual conference held in Chicago, IL.