Girl Rising – more reasons for hope!

Watching Girl Rising this past week, I realized how fortunate we are to have an educational system that we care enough about to argue over and make sacrifices for. It also gave me hope (following reposted from my blog).

On International Women’s Day I wrote about how being involved with Teen Tech Girls and Women Learning Tech gives me hope. Last night, after watching Girl Rising, I have found at least 9 more reasons for hope. It’s a good thing too because there are disturbing realities that can leave a soul weary:

• 60 million girls under the age of 18 are married – icrw.org
• One in three women on the planet will be raped, beaten or assaulted –onebillionrising.org 
• An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year –unglobalcompact.org
• Women make up only 12.9% of computer science graduates – cra.org

Girl Rising is a gorgeous film and an ambitious project. Not only is it meant to highlight the impact that education has had on the lives of 9 girls from around the globe, it is meant to ignite a movement to see that power of education extend to millions of girls, which in turn, will literally change the world.

I heard Eve Ensler once say that “if teenage girls wake up, if teenage girls take it back, this whole world will change overnight because they have more energy, more brilliance, more gut-filled, open-hearted wisdom.”

I’m a believer – I’ve seen glimpses and glimmers and this movie just reinforces my belief. Opportunity, access and support are the keys that unlock this potential. I heard this film could be a tear-jerker, but as I sat there watching each girl’s story unfold, I couldn’t stop smiling. Each telling was unique and I appreciated that the writers, native to each girl’s country, did a great job of bringing out their voices. My favorite story was definitely Senna whose voice literally could not be contained within the narrative. I felt her voice and passion jumping through the screen and demanding that I take note – we are here, we are here, we are here!

Don’t miss seeing Girl Rising. You can search for a screening at girlrising.com and if you don’t see one in your area, start a crowd-sourced screening yourself – it’s a great experience!