Three generations and the pursuit of a dream
A family’s story reflects the dreams, struggles and triumphs of girls and young women
“I still feel the regret to this day. If they had picked me, maybe I would have become the head of a big hospital,” rues 70-year-old Hajiya Ladi as she reflects on her adolescent years. When her parents had to enroll a single child in school, keeping tradition, they picked her brother.
As a young girl, she was always curious about how babies were delivered at birth, which inspired her dream of becoming a midwife. Today, the septuagenarian, with a comic demeanor that makes everyone around her laugh, still often jests about herself as the “tsuhuwar likita”— the aged doctor.
One can only imagine how much comfort her humour would have brought to mothers in labour had her dream been fulfilled. Unfortunately, she never had the opportunity nor access to formal education and missed out on her dream.
The parents enrolling her brother in school ahead of her highlights the long-standing issue of boys having privileges not granted to the girl child.
“We were only two children then. Of course, they would choose my brother,” she explains.
Hajiya would later get married at age 15, residing in Liman Katagum community, in Bauchi state, where she still lives with her daughter, Bala Raba.
Bala, 40 believes her childhood was better than her mother’s. Coincidentally, like her mother, Bala once aspired to become a health worker, possibly fulfilling a dream her mother had to abandon. She enrolled in school and her education went smoothly until she stopped at Primary Six. Aged 14, she got married. With her dreams of becoming a health worker put on hold, Bala represents a second generation of girls unable to fulfill their dreams.
In her adolescent years, she faced other challenges including menstrual hygiene. “One thing that troubled me as a girl was my menstrual hygiene,” she says. “People were shy to talk about menstruation, and as a girl, I barely knew what to do.” But she believes her daughter – Maryam Mahmud, 15, is more fortunate.
“A lot has changed for girls nowadays. I talk about menstrual hygiene with my daughter, and there is less apprehension about discussing menstruation.”
Maryam’s life is testament to the progress made for girls in recent decades. Unlike her mother and grandmother, she has advanced further in her education and is now in Class three of Junior Secondary School. Maryam also wishes to go into medical practice.
I know I have a lot of hard work ahead of me to achieve my dreams. I need to finish Senior Secondary School and proceed to the University. I am confident that my parents and family will continue to support my academic pursuits.
Despite her optimism, Maryam still harbours fears about the future, and about the challenges faced by girls in general when it comes to education. She believes policymakers need to do more to support girls’ education.
“If I had the chance to talk to government leaders about girls, I would talk about education,” she says in all earnest.
The lives of Hajiya, Bala and Maryam symbolise the struggles and strides made in securing the future of adolescent girls over the past few decades. While progress has been made, these young women still face various limitations compared to their male counterparts.
According to a UNICEF report released to commemorate the 2025 International Women’s Day, about 4 in 10 adolescent girls and young women worldwide do not complete their upper secondary schooling.
Maryam knows that the internet could aid her journey towards becoming a medical professional. Unfortunately, she is one of the 9 out of every 10 adolescent girls and young women in low-income countries who do not have access to the internet.
Maryam’s optimism, her unwavering resolve for a bright future, and her educational journey — one that has surpassed those of the two generations before her — illustrate the pathbreaking strides made in advancing the cause of girls and young women. However, her fears about the future of girls' education renew the call to break down these age-old barriers preventing promising girls from achieving their dreams.
In Nigeria, UNICEF champions the cause of adolescent girls by promoting initiatives aimed at education, ending child marriage, combating gender-based violence, and promoting sexual and reproductive health, therefore, empowering girls to achieve the #Girlgoals.
