Netflix’s Bela Bejaria Champions Access to Education to ‘Make Sure Girls Growing Up Today Can Discover Their Voices’
variety.comAndrés Buenahora editor Bela Bajaria, chief content officer at Netflix, gave a powerful speech about gender equality and access to education during Variety‘s Power of Women presented by Lifetime event in Hollywood on Thursday night.
During her acceptance speech highlighting the work of education organization Room to Read, Bajaria paid homage to her two great-grandmothers, who were both married by the age of 14 and unable to pursue a college education due to cultural customs in rural India. “My daughters are the first women in my family with freedom to forge their own path,” Bajaria said. “They stand on a lot of people’s shoulders — including my mother’s and great grandmothers’.
And they know plenty of women aren’t so lucky.” The chief content officer reflected on the social and familial expectations in many countries that require girls to spend significant time tending to tasks such as feeding livestock or bringing clean water home.
She explained how this mitigates the educational opportunities afforded to girls and cited how 122 million girls globally are currently not enrolled in primary or secondary education. “Millions of little girls are born with the same brilliance and potential as little boys.
Read more on variety.com
