Last night I saw the wonderful film, Girl Rising (at the Carolina Theater in Durham). It’s a hybrid—part documentary, part recreated stories—that shares the real-life experiences of nine girls from various parts of the world, many the poorest of the poor, who are fighting for their right to an education. Digging in their heels and voicing their human right to be more than a slave, a disregarded life, an afterthought. Just for being born a girl.
Can you imagine?
You may think the poorest girls around the world account for a small percentage of our global human community, but you’d be wrong. Just think, at Google’s I/O (developer) conference yesterday, on a map of the world the countries where less than 10% of the population has been “touched” by Android were highlighted—it was most countries. Put that in context with these facts:
+ there are roughly 7 billion people on Earth
+ there have been 900 million Android activations worldwide (mainly: North America, Europe, and Australia)
+ Google says they have 4.5 million people still to reach
The point is most of the world is not like us. Most women are born into families and societies that do not value them. The aim of Girl Rising and the 10×10 campaign is to change that. Throughout the film they point out amazing statistics that come down to one big idea: Countries that recognize the untapped potential of their female populations, and invest in them through proper education, boost their economy.
And, a flourishing economy, where men and women are able to contribute to society in a meaningful way and exploratory way, typically means all kinds of things (rights, choices, freedoms, jobs) are going more right than they are wrong.
By educating women, countries and societies are able to truly and easily solve issues relating to disease and violence. By educating women we allow the natural flow of life to happen and wrongs to be made right again.
We’re all responsible for that.
P.S. Remember Malala? The brave Pakistani girl who called education the light that brightens up girls’ lives and was then shot in the head by the Taliban? She’s recovering now and going back to school soon, but horrible violence is escalating across Pakistan (report from Gordon Brown, former UK prime minister).