A TRAVELLER has revealed the real reason that girls in her community drop out of school at a very young age.
Many gypsies and travellers don’t go to secondary school at all, whereas others drop out at around 13 or 14.
Zoey took to TikTok to explain why many Irish travellers don’t believe that going to secondary school is important.
She said: “In our culture, we go to school just to learn how to read, write and spell.
“Once we know those three things, we’re finished with school”.
Zoey revealed that she herself left school at 13, whereas other girls that she knows were taken out of education in primary school.
She said that traveller girls don’t need to go to secondary school or college as they “won’t be working”.
“Our husbands provide for us”, she said.
“Just like in your culture, you have to provide for yourself”.
She said that men in the traveller community go out to work and use the money to give their wives “whatever we want”.
Because of that, she said that it is pointless for traveller women to go to secondary school as “we won’t get anything out of it”.
She added that even if she did want to get a job, she believes that no one would hire her due to the discrimination faced by travellers.
Zoey’s video, which was posted under the username @zoey_pon, has likely left many open-mouthed, as it has racked up 111,000 views on the video-sharing platform.
TikTok users raced to the video’s comments section to share their thoughts.
One person said: “I’m not a traveller but I wish I could leave school”.
Typically, gypsies is a term used to describe Romani people who migrated to Europe from India while traveller refers to a person with either Irish, Scottish or English heritage.
Around 300,000 Gypsy, Roma and Irish travellers are thought to live in the UK.
All three groups come from nomadic ways of life, however, as it is increasingly difficult to find land to live on, many are moving into permanent housing.
They place high value on family life and often live close together even after reaching adult years and getting married.
Often the men are the breadwinners of the family while the women stay home.
While many English gypsy girls are allowed to drink alcohol and go on holiday with their friends before they get married, their Irish counterparts are not.
A second person said: “I got taken out of school at 10”.
A third person said: “I know traveller girls that went to school and college and got jobs out of college so it does happen!”
A fourth person added: “I know traveller girls that work for a living, nothing to stop you learning and getting a job.”
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