Girls Changing the World: A Decade in Retrospective

Girls and young women have the ambition to learn like Malala. To advocate like Vanessa. To smash stigma like Ilwad. And to rise to power like Ofelia.??

In the days ahead of the 10th anniversary of the International Day of the Girl on October 11, we pay tribute to some of the powerful girls and young women who have led change around the globe in the last decade, reminding us that every girl, every young woman – no matter their circumstances – has the potential to be a significant agent of change.

The Right to An Education?

“I tell my story not because it is unique, but because it is the story of many girls,” once said Malala Yousafzai. Malala was just 11 when she began writing under the name Gul Makai for BBC Urdu, describing life under the Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat Valley and advocating for girls’ education.?

"They thought that the bullet would silence us, but they failed," said Malala on her 16th birthday, a year after being shot by the Taliban.

Malala, 25, would survive the attack on her life, galvanizing the world to action on girls’ education, and went on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 17.?

She would also support the work of other girls, including Afghanistan’s Pashtana Durrani, the founder of LEARN Afghanistan, which continues to educate thousands of Afghan boys, girls, and women, training teachers in digital literacy. Like Malala, Pashtana’s right to an education was passionately defended by both her parents.?

“My mother taught and my father led. Today, I do both,” she says.?

?The Right to Climate Justice?

“There exists an environmental solution that can reduce inequality, build resilience to the climate crisis and reduce emissions all at the same time. It’s called educating girls and young women, and it needs to happen now,” says Vanessa Nakate.??

The 25-year-old woman, who began climate strikes alone in front of Uganda’s Parliament, would be joined in her advocacy efforts by Sweden’s Greta Thunberg, 19, Rwanda’s Ineza Grace, 25, and Autumn Peltier,17, from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory (Canada), as well as all youth who have participated in Fridays for Future. Together, they are giving a voice to all those who will inherit a changing climate, demanding action and reparations for youth, particularly for girls, around the globe.??

Why girls? According to the Malala Fund, if current trends continue, by 2025 climate change will be a contributing factor in preventing at least 12.5 million girls from completing their education each year.??

“Women understand what is at stake: they know that their rights are more likely to disappear as temperatures rise,” writes Vanessa. “Educating a girl will provide her with a brighter future. Empowering young women will provide us all with a lifeline.”?

?The Right to Live Without Violence?

“The human suffering of women and girls was so tolerated, was so normalized, that it was an open secret in society,” once said Somali-Canadian Ilwad Elman, the founder of Sister Somali, Somalia’s first rape-crisis centre.??

Violence inflicted on girls, tolerated and normalized – an open secret.???

A secret shattered with the deaths of India’s 22-year old Jyoti Singh (Nirbhaya), South Africa’s Anene Booysen, 17, and Iran’s Mahsa Amini, 22, who were not activists, but whose names would become the rallying cry to end all forms of violence against girls and young women.??

A secret disrupted by Nadia Murad, 29, a young Yazidi woman who would advocate for survivors of genocide and sexual violence in Sinjar (Iraq), saying “I want to be the last girl in the world with a story like mine.”?A secret smashed by Afghanistan’s Sonita Alizadeh, 26, a soulful poet with the conviction of an activist, who would write “Daughters for Sale,” an articulation of her pain at surviving a forced child marriage.??

“Let me whisper to you my words,” she would rap. “So no one hears that I speak of the selling of girls.”?

The Right to Political Representation?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ofelia Fernández both dared to run in an election, a process where odds are rarely stacked in their favour. Both won.??

“Congress is too old, they don’t have a stake in this game,” said America’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 32, ahead of her upset victory in 2018. She would shatter glass ceilings for young Latinas everywhere, winning her seat in Congress as a 28-year-old waitress and bartender from the Bronx, New York.?

AOC’s words would reverberate three years later through a budding young politician from Argentina, Ofelia Fernández, 22, a voice for her generation of young Latin Americans, speaking a universal truth about the way youth see themselves.?

"I don't expect anyone to pretend to be generous by telling us about our future," said a then-20-year-old Ofelia. "They have to accept that we are the damned present and it's our turn now."?

Looking Ahead?

Girls – in all their diversity – are powerful and influential and need to be taken seriously. When supported and provided with the opportunity and platform to express themselves, they’re unstoppable. As they claim their rights, ambitions, and future, we must also create space for them, promote their civic engagement, and listen to their solutions and ideas.?Every girl has a flame that burns brightly in her and whose embers can spark change – if given a chance.?

"You tell me to quiet down,” writes Canadian poet Rupi Kaur. “But I was not made with a fire in my belly so I could be put out."?

About the Author: Lindsay Glassco is the President and CEO of Plan International Canada, a global organization dedicated to advancing children's rights and equality for girls. Learn how to get involved and visit plancanada.ca/day-of-the-girl

Picture credits: British Vogue, Pashtana Durrani, Abubaker Lubowa—Reuters, Abouther.com, dw.com? and Today’s Parent, TiffTheTechie via Twitter.?