8-year-old girl writes powerful essay on gender equality: 'Girls are treated worse than boys. Why?'
Maya Segovia is eight years old and is interested in all the same things as your average third grader: she loves science, her pet snake, and wants to be a writer and biologist someday.
But in a powerful essay she wrote on gender equality, Maya proved she may be the leader we’ve been waiting for.
“Let’s start with some simple facts. The real name for gender equality is sexism,” Maya wrote. “Girls are treated worse than boys. Why? I’m not sure. But what I do know is that it’s not right.”
“A long time ago girls had to stay home and clean and take care of her children while her husband (women had to have husbands) would do all the important stuff like work and school,” she continued. “Woman couldn’t vote, they had to wear dresses, and they couldn’t get a credit card without a boys’ permission. Even though girls have more rights now, they are still hurt mentally.”
This essay may just be the therapy we all need. Now it’s capturing the hearts of the internet after Maya’s teacher posted it on ellenation.com, a website for fans to submit content to The Ellen Show.
“I just thought it would be a normal to write,” she tells MAKERS. “It’s strange because in the end we’re all humans. For people to judge other people by their gender is dumb.”
Maya attributes her feminism to shows like the sketch comedy series The Who Was? Show on Netflix, which has highlighted women’s rights pioneers such as Susan B. Anthony, her parents, Mandi and John, and books like Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls that inspire her. “I see bravery in them,” Maya says. “They’re not afraid to change the world.”
Mandi, her mother, says she was beaming with pride when she read her daughter’s essay: “Our job as parents is to raise her into a human that other people want to hire and date and be friends with.”
That mission included taking Maya to the polls on Election Day and bringing her to campaign events to meet women candidates, judges, and “women who are making changes in our community,” says Mandi, a San Antonio, Texas native. “They are fighting back.”
Lauren Singleton, 26, teaches Maya’s third grade class. She says she has students write every day in order to help them find their voices and hear others’ opinions. Jaw-dropped, Singleton recalled reading Maya’s essay: “I was blown away. 8-year-olds don’t normally write about sexism. I was so unbelievably proud.”
As for Maya, she’s going to keep using her voice and hopes to inspire other girls to do the same. Her message to young girls, she says, is, “I want them to know to never be afraid of sticking up for yourself.”
