Today, teens voice their views boldly: Look at Greta Thunberg, the climate activist who started global protests when she was 15. Girls today are more empowered. — AFP Relaxnews
My daughter turned 15 earlier this year. Aside from thinking how insanely fast her childhood sped by, I also couldn’t help thinking about the future that she faces as a young woman, and the kind of world that awaits her.
In some ways, the world is far better now for young women than ever before, in education and careers, for instance. There is no bar on schooling for girls anywhere in the world except in Afghanistan, although financial constraints still significantly limit girls’ education.
There is a big wide world with a myriad opportunities awaiting girls. No field is off limits in theory – nothing to stop them from becoming anything from an astronaut to a zoologist. By contrast, my grandmothers could only really expect one future in their day: marriage and motherhood. They both married in their teens.
Even when I was young, such limited expectations for women still persisted. When my father was considering private education for his daughters, a friend told him, “Why bother? Girls will just get married”. Thankfully, my father prioritised education for his daughters as much as for his son, and all of us got degrees and have careers (and families).
Women today also have more legal rights and protection. We have strengthened laws in Malaysia to address domestic violence and sexual harassment. Of course, violence and abuse against women still continue, but we have seen slow cultural and societal shifts forward. Globally, the #MeToo movement helped bring the issue of sexual assault into the open from under the carpet.
Despite such positive changes, I still worry for my daughter’s future. Climate change, artificial intelligence (AI), the world order, and the global economy vex me.
The more I learn about climate change, the more terrifying the future seems. We’re already seeing frequent extreme weather events and ecosystem disruptions, and we’re only at the beginning of an upward curve.
I recently spoke to an expert with a PhD in AI. Thinking about my children’s future, I asked him what would be a good field of study, one that would offer jobs that are safer from being taken over by AI. He answered swiftly: “None!” He clarified that while a limited number of jobs may be more AI-proof, no field is really “safe” from AI.
Even customer service – where you’d expect human-to-human interactions – is increasingly being replaced by chatbots and virtual agents.
I’ve seen my own profession, journalism and communications, change irrevocably due to technology. We’ve gone from newspapers published on a printing press to online news feeds filtered through Facebook. I’m just grateful that I was part of what was probably the last generation of old school journalists.
As for the world order and economy, we live in very uncertain times now, with heightened geopolitical tension, the waning of the old world order, and economic instability.
On top of that, we have idiotic populist leaders making incredibly senseless, if not sheerly stupid, decisions. Just when I think I’ve seen it all, a new level of absurdity appears. Meanwhile, brutal attacks on civilians continue in Gaza and Ukraine. Tell me, does this look like progress?
Even in areas of progress – such as the rights of women – we’ve seen some pushback, with rising conservatism and active efforts to roll back women’s rights.
Maybe, in the path to progress, the pendulum has to swing back and forth before we shift forward.
Perhaps I worry unduly. My daughter doesn’t really share my concerns. But she is different from me, from a different generation. She is a Gen Z girl who is confident, decisive, buoyant, and optimistic.
She trusts her instincts far more than I did at her age. I’m amazed at how she makes decisions so quickly and firmly. I now try not to second guess her. I guess I grew up in an era where the opinions of teen girls were barely heard, let alone listened to. Today, teens voice their views boldly: Look at Greta Thunberg, the climate activist who started global protests when she was 15. Girls today are more empowered.
But Gen Z youth (those born between the late 1990s and early 2010s) are also said to be more reluctant to grow up. For example, they typically live longer with their parents, and are slower to reach milestones – they start their careers, have sex, and get a driver’s licence later. Some experts say they grow up more slowly because they have been over-parented and their world is relatively safer. They are more sheltered, living in their own worlds (with their headphones always on!).
Time will tell how they fare in the world. Who knows? Perhaps it’ll take Gen Z vision and their innate digital dexterity to reshape our world. In any case, the future is not ours to see, as they say, especially envisioned with my 20th century eyes.
Human Writes columnist Mangai Balasegaram writes mostly on health but also delves into anything on being human. She has worked with international public health bodies and has a Masters in public health. Write to her at lifestyle@thestar.com.my. The views expressed here are entirely the writer's own.
