The Future Is Fearlessly Female
Humanitarians. Activists. Changemakers. Amplified Voices.
Back in 2013, there were nine key issues affecting girls and women around the world.
- Access to Education
A 2013 report by UNESCO found that 31 million girls of primary school age were not in school, and about one out of every four young women in developing countries had never completed their primary school education. That number represented a huge pool of untapped girl power: that same report suggested that educated women were more likely to get married later, survive childbirth, raise healthy kids, find work, and earn more money, among other positives.
2. Employment Opportunities
Even in a country as wealthy and developed as the US, women still experienced major inequality in the workforce: By some estimates, women earn only $0.77 for every $1 earned by men. Globally, the gender gap was even wider: women earn only one-tenth of the world’s income despite working two-thirds of the total work hours. Empowering women to earn their fair share could benefit their entire communities in a big way: women were likely to invest more of their money back into their families and communities than men typically do.
3. Reproductive Health & Rights
225 million women in developing countries had an unmet need for family planning, contributing to 74 million unplanned pregnancies and 36 million abortions every year, according to figures cited by Women Deliver, a women’s advocacy group. Helping women take charge of their baby-making reduces unsafe abortions and maternal deaths by over 70% each and conserves precious resources that would otherwise have gone toward pregnancy-related costs.
4. Maternal Health
The World Health Organization estimated that 800 women died every day from preventable, pregnancy-related causes. That’s nearly 300,000 lives per year needlessly lost during what is fundamentally a life-creating event.
5. Gender-based Violence
1 in 3 women experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes, according to WHO. Whether it’s domestic abuse, rape, or sex trafficking, gender-based violence denied far too many women the opportunity to live happy, healthy, and fulfilling lives.
6. Child Marriage
They estimated 140 million girls would become child brides between 2011 and 2020. Girls who married before age 18 were typically denied an education, at risk of complications related to premature childbearing, and more vulnerable to intimate partner violence.
7. Female Genital Mutilation
Female Genital Mutilation (or FGM), defined by WHO as including “procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons,” was a complex issue with religious and cultural implications for the groups who practice it. That said, the general consensus in the international community is that FGM imposed real health consequences, violates a child’s rights, and promotes inequality between the sexes.
8. Gender Equality
Equality (or the lack thereof) was a recurring issue when it came to women and girls, whether it was unequal access to schooling for girls in developing countries or unequal pay for women in the workplace. In a world there where 95% of countries were led by a male head of state. It was clear that we as a global community had a long way to go before women are given a fair shake.
The Women In The World Summit 2013
2013 was a monumental year in my life as a Woman In The World. In my early 30s, I worked at The Daily Beast and was honored to help orchestrate the 4th Annual Women In The World Summit. Tina Brown, my boss at the time founded Women in the World as a live journalism platform in 2009 to discover and amplify the unheard voices of global women on the front lines of change. Women in the World shared profound narratives that illuminated the long march for gender equality, shine a light on places where women’s voices are never heard, and celebrated the women who live with courage and passion both in the spotlight and on the sidelines.
This event was the catalyst for my future as a Women and Girls Activist and Mother. While listening to stories of women world ambassadors, leaders, activists, educators, artists, musicians, and UNSUNG HERO-ESSES, I found that the world was much bigger than I had dreamed and women’s injustice around the world was even more vast.
Photo Highlights:
A Short-List of Speakers
Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters, Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, Michaela DePrince, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Dr. Hawa Abdi, Nizan Guanaes, America Ferrera, Tara Roberts, Sejal Hathi, Juju Chang, Maya Angelou, Pat Mitchell, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Lara Spencer, Diane Von Furstenberg, Melanee Verveer, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Angelina Jolie, Meryle Streep, Lauren Bush, America Ferrara, Christiane Amanpour, Norah O’Donnell, Rula Jebreal, Malala Youstafzai, Mamphela Aletta Ramphele, Zainab Salbi, Kerry Washington, and other women world leaders, ambassadors, activists, and artists. AND to balance things out, Tom Hanks.
The Takeaway
Women’s access to education is crucial to helping solve most ALL human injustices endured by women across the globe. This theme wove its way into every conversation, making Malala Youstafzai’s story even more prolific at the time. When she spoke via live stream onstage, the room froze and the air was heavy and somber. It had only been months since she had been shot by Pakistan Taliban gunmen in an assassination attempt for her activism for girl’s right to education. On October 9, 2012, the gunmen shot a 16-year-old Malala, when she was traveling home from school. She survived and has continued to speak out on the importance of education. In 2013, she gave a speech to the United Nations and published her first book, I Am Malala.
Hearing her speak was a defining moment in my life. Her message was larger than just a woman’s right to education. In order to gain these equal rights, it involved and still involves.
Action. Activism. Risk. Solutions.
…Even through danger
What I know to be true about Malala-
She knows that girls’ rights are human rights
Through her composure, intelligence and advocacy, Malala has proven that girls demand respect, and they demand human rights. The importance of elevating her perspective was highlighted by the Girl Declaration, which outlines the policy and cultural changes necessary for girls to attain human rights — and Malala signed along with dozens of other important thinkers and advocates from around the globe.
“I have a name and it’s not anonymous or insignificant or unworthy waiting to be called,” the declaration reads in part. “This is the moment when my rising no longer scares you. This is the moment when being a girl became my strength, my sanctuary not my pain.”
She advocates for women as peacemakers; the politics of feminism should not be driven by hate or revenge.
Malala has never intimated violence as the solution or advocated for revenge against those who tried to do her harm. “I do not even hate the Talib who shot me,” she told the UN General Assembly in 2013. “Even if there is a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me. I would not shoot him. … This is what my soul is telling me, be peaceful and love everyone.”
She shows that women care about other women.
Malala’s travels around the world, specifically her visits to Nigeria to highlight Boko Haram’s abduction of dozens of young girls, have demonstrated how women can be each other's greatest champions.
“I am focusing on women’s rights and girls’ education because they are suffering the most,” Malala began her UN speech. “There was a time when women social activists asked men to stand up for their rights. But, this time, we will do it by ourselves. I am not telling men to step away from speaking for women’s rights rather I am focusing on women to be independent to fight for themselves.”
But she is not only leading through her words. Malala celebrated her 17th birthday with some of the girls who had escaped Boko Haram and are now back home in the village of Chibok. She also spoke with Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, who promised to ensure the rest of the kidnapped girls’ safe return.
She works for the rights of all girls to receive an education.
During her UN speech Malala directly asked all “developed nations to support the expansion of educational opportunities for girls in the developing world.”
“Education is our right,” she reiterates in her memoir, I Am Malala. “Just as it is our right to sing. Islam has given us this right and says that every girl and boy should go to school. The Quran says we should seek knowledge, study hard and learn the mysteries of our world.”
She highlights how education can lift girls out of poverty.
Malala understands how education can change the lives of girls and women, enabling them with the tools and resources to find jobs and become economically self-sufficient.
“Education is the best weapon we have to fight poverty, ignorance, and terrorism,” -op-ed for the Guardian
She understands that education is the key to gender equality.
“In Pakistan when women say they want independence, people think this means we don’t want to obey our fathers, brothers or husbands.” she writes in I Am Malala. “But it does not mean that. It means we want to make decisions for ourselves. We want to be free to go to school or to go to work. Nowhere is it written in the Quran that a woman should be dependent on a man. The word has not come down from the heavens to tell us that every woman should listen to a man.”
She champions literacy as a way to make women warriors.
She referenced the saying, “The pen is mightier than sword” during her UN speech. “The extremists are afraid of books and pens. The power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women. The power of the voice of women frightens them.”
“We must believe in the power and the strength of our words. Our words can change the world … let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons.”
She proves that fear and violence will not stop women from fighting for equal rights.
Thanks to Malala’s example, women around the world know they no longer need to be intimidated by fear or violence. Her bravery and resilience are an example to all of us when we feel the fight for gender equality might be insurmountable.
“The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions,” she told the UN delegates. “But nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born.”
Sadly, the issue of a “girl’s right to education” seems to have been overshadowed by COVID and unprecedented global political and social unrest. However, Malala is still fearlessly and relentlessly forging ahead through it all.
If Malala has taught us anything is that fighting for human rights doesn’t happen behind a desk or found in a textbook.
It happens out in “In The World”
“Let us wage a glorious struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism. Let us pick up our books and our pens, they are our most powerful
weapons. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. Education is the only solution.”
— Malala Yousafzai, United Nations
GET INVOLVED — In Girl’s Education Across the Globe — “Girl Rising”
What is Girl Rising?
Girl Rising is a non-profit organization that uses the power of storytelling to break down the barriers that prevent girls from becoming equal members of society. They partner with like-minded leaders and organizations worldwide to create stories that lead to transformational change in the way girls are valued.
Girl Rising Began As A Film
NINE GIRLS. NINE STORIES OF COURAGE.
Brave Girl Rising
Filmed in one of the largest refugee camps in the world, Brave Girl Rising tells how a courageous girl named Nasro, inspired by the magical dreams of her mother and the sisterhood of her friends, succeeds in getting the education she deserves.
For Educators
Use Girl Rising’s educational tools to encourage your students to think about important political, cultural, economic, geographical, and gender issues. Girl Rising’s curriculum and educator tools will allow you to engage students in meaningful conversations about their roles as global citizens and their responsibilities to their communities.
