Children at Mosebo Village, Ethiopia
— 20 Comments

Standing up for all Girls on International Day of the Girl

“It’s about time someone said it. Being born female in one of the world’s poorest countries means your life will be harder, simply because of your gender. Unlocking the full potential of girls and women wouldn’t just transform their own lives, or even their families’ – it could help end extreme poverty for good”. – ONE.org

Today, October 11, is the International Day of the Girl, a day declared by the United Nations in 2011 to raise awareness about all issues concerning gender inequality around the world.  It’s a day when activist groups come together under the same goal to highlight, discuss, and take action to advance rights and opportunities for girls everywhere. Fast forward to today and the International Day of the Girl has become a global movement of hope, inspiration and advocacy to better the lives of half our planet who is being left behind.

Globally, more than 600 million girls live in the developing world and of that number, 130 million girls are currently not in school right now. This is a huge problem which has significant repercussions not only for girls but for the economy and well-being of society as a whole. Education is one of the most powerful weapons in the fight against extreme poverty – so it’s unacceptable that so many girls are still denied the chance to learn.

ONE, a campaigning and advocacy organization of more than eight million people around the world taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, fully understands the power of girls and the way education can be used as a conduit to better not only their lives but society as a whole. ONE is a strong advocate for the rights of women and girls around the world and in honor of this year’s International Day of the Girl, one has released a new report titled “The Toughest Places for a Girl to Get an Education”.  

The report identities the ten toughest places in the world for a girl to get an education and has some tragic facts:

  • The top ten toughest countries are all fragile states and among the poorest in the world.
  • Nine out of ten toughest countries are in Africa.
  • Poverty is sexist. Within the toughest 10 countries, girls are 57% more likely than boys to be out of school at the primary level and 83% at the secondary level.
  • In the 10 toughest countries, half of the girls are married before their 18th birthday.
  • In South Sudan, 73% of girls don’t go to primary school.

Yet there is so much hope. Educating girls can change the world.  The ripple effect of educating one girl in a community is astounding. The math is simple and easy. So why aren’t more girls in school?

Global Issues Global Non-Profit Organizations and Social Good Enterprises SOCIAL GOOD Women and Girls
Children of Mosebo Village
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Poverty is Sexist: How you can make a difference in the lives of women and girls

Global Issues Global Non-Profit Organizations and Social Good Enterprises SOCIAL GOOD Women and Girls
— 17 Comments

ONE Launches #PovertyIsSexist Campaign to improve the lives of women worldwide

POVERTY IS SEXIST:

“It’s about time someone said it. Being born female in one of the world’s poorest countries means your life will be harder, simply because of your gender. Unlocking the full potential of girls and women wouldn’t just transform their own lives, or even their families’ – it could help end extreme poverty for good”. – ONE

Inside we meet a mother and her expectant daughter. They walked two hours on foot to reach the Lie and Wait house. Her mother delivered all 8 children at home with no help.
Her 15-year-old daughter, a child bride, waiting to deliver her first child.
Mosebo Village, Ethiopia
Family in an unauthorized slum. Delhi, India
Sister Love in La Ceiba

“Being born female in one of the world’s poorest countries means your life will be harder, simply because of your gender”. I often think about those words. As an American woman, who is healthy, educated and has been blessed with amazing opportunities to see the world, I wonder what my life would be like if I’d been born somewhere else. Like India or Chad or Afghanistan.  Would I just be a number?

The more I see and learn about the world, the more I realize that life is unfair in many ways and on many levels. Some inequities cannot be changed. However, some can. Being born a woman should not mean that you should have less opportunities to reach your potential. Nor should it mean if you are poor, that your opportunities are even more limited. Yet this is the world we live in today. A world in which violence against women and girls persists at “alarmingly high levels” per the UN. A world in which 800 women die each and every day during childbirth just because they are living in the developing world. A world in which boys are much more likely to be fed, go to school, and reach their potential. A world in which I desperately want to change.

Ethiopia has some of the highest levels of child marriage in the world. Furthermore, the number of girls going to primary school in the UK is equal to the number of girls not going to primary school in Ethiopia. 

Faces of Ethiopia

Can it be changed? Yes it can.

In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8th the ONE Campaign has launched “Poverty is Sexist”, a new campaign aimed at pushing world leaders to establish new global goals to improve the lives of women and girls worldwide by 2030. It is a fact that the only way we can end extreme poverty, create peace, security and prosperity around the world is by improving the lives of women and girls around the globe.

Global Issues SOCIAL GOOD Women and Girls