U.S. Department of State [archived]

Carrying the Torch for Gender Equality

For the first time in the history of the Olympics, approximately 45 percent of the athletes are female.

As in the U.S., where Title IX has produced a generation of top-notch female athletes, sports in the developing world has provided examples of what is possible for women and girls. As we watch these athletes compete on a global stage, their example can resonate in societies around the globe. The powerful visuals of the first American athlete who will wear a hijab in competition, or the Syrian refugee winning her swimming heat, can inspire a new generation of girls to believe that their dreams can become reality.

At least 200 million women and girls are thought to be living with the consequences of female genital mutilation/cutting…That’s why it’s so important that we break through the silence on this issue and get people talking about it

— Ambassador Russell on Breaking the Silence on FGM/C in Egypt: One Activist’s Story.

climate change is important to women – but women are also important to climate change. If the world’s efforts to limit it are going to succeed, women need to be a full and equal part of the solution

— Ambassador Cathy Russell on why the Paris agreement is important for women and girls.

The President and I launched an initiative called Let Girls Learn to ensure girls across the globe have every chance to receive the education they deserve, and it’s going to take all of us working together to make that goal a reality.

— First Lady Michelle Obama, 2015 International Education Week (IEW) Letter (via exchangealumni)

Being a School Girl Should Not Be Dangerous Business

One year ago today, hundreds of girls gathered in their village’s sole secondary school. It was supposed to be closed, but a special exception – the national exam to enter college – opened the doors to hundreds of girls in their final year of school.

For them, taking the test was risky – it wasn’t safe to be at school – but it was an opportunity the young women couldn’t miss. The test promised to put them on track to go to college and to give them the opportunity for a career.

Keep reading

(Source: blogs.state.gov)

whitehouse:

“Wherever they live, whoever they are, every girl on this planet has value.” —President Obama on new steps to help let girls learn around the world

(Source: obamawhitehouse)

Societies where women and girls are empowered are more prosperous and stable - not occasionally, but always.

— Secretary Kerry at an Equal Futures Partnership event on the margins of UNGA, September 22, 2014

ISIL’s Abuse of Women and Girls Must Be Stopped

Beheadings are not the only horrors perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known as ISIL. Over the past two months, there has been a tragic stream of reports about thousands of women and girls abducted from their families and sold in markets. These violent extremists are attacking their own women and girls.

While captive, these women and children have been tortured, raped, given to ISIL thugs as “brides,” or kept as sex slaves. Some have committed suicide to avoid sexual enslavement. Others have been forced to watch as ISIL beat their children to coerce the women into converting to Islam. Some have simply been executed. Hundreds of women and girls have been taken from Iraq to ISIL camps in Syria and never heard from again.

Keep reading

(Source: blogs.state.gov)

Even when girls do attend school, they often do so at great risk.

— First Lady Michelle Obama, 2014 YALI Summit (via exchangealumni)

ukinusa:

Powerful, simple & inspiring. Malala on how we can end female genital mutilation (FGM) and child & forced marriage at last week’s Girl Summit.

(via ukinusa)

Posts tagged with ‘Girls’

Carrying the Torch for Gender Equality

Being a School Girl Should Not Be Dangerous Business

ISIL’s Abuse of Women and Girls Must Be Stopped