This day is about celebrating girls, and advocating for gender equality. It is about prompting people to think and talk about issues that affect girls and women everywhere. Events around the country will bring people together to both recognize the role of oppression and take a stand against its influence on their own lives and communities.
Girls in the U.S. may have come a long way from the days when women couldn't vote or wear pants. But girls still have a long way to go before they are truly considered equal to boys. If girls make up 50% of the population, why do they make up only 20% of the leadership positions? Why do women earn fewer cents on the dollar than men? And in other countries, girls face being forced to stay home and not attend school, or forced into marriage as young as 8--all simply because they are girls. Discrimination still exists, and it affects us all in some way or another. We also cannot ignore the sexism faced by girls abroad, because girls are girls everywhere, and sexism does not know boundaries; an injustice felt in a small village in Mali is an injustice felt by us all. We’re all in this together, and we can’t afford to leave anyone behind.
When the Day of the Girl is established in the United States, it will represent a major step forward for girls’ rights. Convincing the American people and government that sexism remains a life-threatening issue for many women and girls means that small victories are no longer “enough”; we demand real change. It will give legitimacy to every girl that has ever been made to feel inferior. It will broadcast the message that Americans feel that sexism must be addressed right now, in all parts of the world, especially when it directly threatens lives and well-being.
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