Tag Archives: Half The Sky

October 11 Has Been Declared The International Day of The Girl

October 11 Has Been Declared The International Day of The Girl

Photo by Michelle Amarante

The U.N. has declared October 11th as The International Day of The Girl.   We live in a world where some of us can take for granted the rights of our daughters.  While in other areas, girls live in oppression and subjugation.   In Pakistan, just the other day, a 14 year old girl was shot for speaking up about girls rights to education.   When watching the documentary Half The Sky last week, one of my favorite points made was that to educate a girl, is to educate a community.   By excluding their girls from the education process, a nation is really cheating itself out of half of its full potential.  Just  imagine the possibilities if these countries educated their girls along with the boys.  Only then can a community truly rise to its full potential.

On December 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly declared October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.

For its first observance, this year’s Day will focus on child marriage, which is a fundamental human rights violation and impacts all aspects of a girl’s life. Child marriage denies a girl of her childhood, disrupts her education, limits her opportunities, increases her risk to be a victim of violence and abuse, jeopardizes her health and therefore constitutes an obstacle to the achievement of nearly every Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and the development of healthy communities.-UN.org

Click here to learn how you can help to empower girls around the world.  With the support of the world behind them, I cannot wait to see how our girls around the globe will change the world, and what they will accomplish!

Photos:  Elizabeth Atalay

I wrote this post as part of The Global Team of 200, a highly specialized group of members of Mom Bloggers for Social Good that concentrates on issues involving women and girls, children, world hunger and maternal health.

Our Motto: Individually we are all powerful. Together we can change the world. We believe in the power of collective action to help others and believe in ourselves to make this world a better place for our children and the world’s children.

Half The Sky – The Movement; Guest Post by Nicole Melancon

Half The Sky – The Movement; Guest Post by Nicole Melancon

This is a guest post from my friend Nicole Melancon’s amazing blog Third Eye Mom. She did such a beautiful job introducing The Half The Sky book, movie, and movement that I asked if I could share her post here. I completely relate to her transformation from mom to activist, and that  pull to do more once our eyes are opened by information.

 

 

“This post is part of my Social Good Sunday series. “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide” is a highly aclaimed book written by Nicholas D. Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn. A compelling four-hour documentary on the book is being shown for the first time on PBS on Monday, October 1 and Tuesday, October 2nd. See below for details.”-Nicole Melancon, www.Thirdeyemom.com 

Women hold up half the sky. – Chinese Proverb

Have you ever read a book that changed your life? Although this is a bold statement to be made, I can truthfully say that I have. “Half the Sky” is a book that changed my purpose in life forever.  It is the book that motivated me to transform from a modern stay-at-home mom to a life as an advocate, activist and a voice for social good and giving back. A path that started three years ago, and has evolved into unimaginable ways. A road I’m utterly excited to be following; a dream I’ve had for years. It is time to give back and there is no time more important than now.

So why did Half the Sky have such a powerful impact me? What is the book about?

The book is about women and girls and the extraordinary things they are doing around the globe to bring about change in the face of severe gender oppression and inequality. The book is not a light read. It is destined to leave anyone with a heart in tears. It is a tragic look into the hidden atrocities that are happening every minute to women and girls around the world. Modern day slavery, sex trafficking, genital mutilation, rape, honor killing, lack of education, maternal mortality, and the impact of fistula (a devastating treatable condition that occurs after childbirth and leaves a woman with incontinence, ridicule and isolation).

Yet despite all the devastation and oppression discussed in each page of this book, there is is hope. For the book is rightly named “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide”. Amazing things are happening right now in regards to women’s and girl’s rights. At the Social Good Summit and Clinton Global Initiative 2012 Annual meetings in New York City just this past week, women and girl’s rights were at the forefront of the conversation.

Per Sheryl WuDunn, “In the same way that slavery was a moral challenge for the 19th century and totalitarianism was a challenge for the 20th century, the challenge that women and girls face around the world is the moral challenge of our time”.

This message was reiterated over and over again by several high-level officials this past week in New York City. A message that sparked a global movement to address what WuDunn and Kristof dubbed “the central moral challenge of our time” – ending the oppression of women and girls world-wide.

Although women and girls around the globe face threats every day of their lives, hope and optimism remain that these courageous women are working to turn things around. Non-governmental organizations and powerful individuals are finding ways to increase awareness and provide ways for women and girls to escape the vicious cycle of poverty and abuse they face through initiatives to increase education, reproductive and maternal health care, and economic empowerment.

A four-hour documentary film inspired by the book will be run on PBS this Monday, October 1, 9/8 pm Central (Part 1 of 2) and Tuesday, October 2, 9/8 PM Central  (Part 2 of 2).  Filmed in 10 countries, the film follows Nicholas Kristof and celebrity activists on an inspiring journey to tell the stories of the courageous women working to bring about change to women and girls rights.

The documentary takes an inside look into what is really happening around the globe. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Yet also illustrates some of the inspiring changes that are happening as well, changes that empower women and girls to make a better life for themselves.

“In Cambodia, where 30 percent of prostitutes are children, Half the SKy examines the issue of sex trafficking. Meg Ryan and Nickolas Kristof meet Somaly Mam, herself sold into slavery as a young girl, but who is now a world-renowned leader in the anti-trafficking struggle”.

 

Besides the documentary, Kristof and WuDunn are taking the book one step further into perhaps unprecedented territory. They have partnered with leading NGO, Games for Change, to use technology as never before. Together they are creating games that change Half the Sky from simply a book to a movement focusing on ways to promote change. Change in attitude and beliefs that will help empower women and drive them out of poverty.

It is an ambitious program like never seen before. Kristof and WuDunn believe that with such a high percentage of the population having access to mobile phones, that now is the time to reach out to a new audience and impact change from the ground up. For example, in one Kenyan slum they visited, 75% of the one million people had cell phones but most did not have a TV. Half the Sky launched a mobile app for youth to learn about critical issues impacting their community such as teenage pregnancy, intestinal worms and female discrimination.  Half the Sky is hoping that gaming will act as a catalyst to impact behavioral changes and empower youth to make change.

To read more about Half the Sky’s upcoming games, click here. It is truly impressive!

To learn more, please visit Half the Sky Movement and see how you can help.

To read more from Nicole Melancon check out www.Thirdeyemom.com