October 9th: Girls’ Leadership

Sponsored by Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd

The Congregation of Our Lady of Charity was one of the first groups that engaged in promoting the International Day of the Girl. The Working Group on Girls celebrated the first International Day on October 11, 2012, with a breakfast at the Turkish Embassy where a WGG girl advocate delivered the address to all assembled following the adoption of the UN Resolution on December 19, 2011, recognizing October 11, 2012, as the inaugural day of International Day of the Girl Child. Working Group on Girls in 2013 and in successive years organized and hosted the very successful Girls Speak Out within the United Nations. For 2020 and 2021, it was a virtual event due to the COVID pandemic but this year 2022 girls are returning to the United Nations to celebrate with UN Member States, UN Agencies, UNICEF, and UN Women.  But it is concurrently a hybrid event, enabling the voices of girls from around the world to be present and active with girls from New York State and surrounding areas. The 11 days of action have been driven by social media activities that are co-sponsored by various girls’ organizations. This year, the 10th year anniversary, the 11 days will be hosted on Zoom live platforms.  

Girls from Good Shepherd schools and social services will come together to share their thoughts and experiences about the importance of the girl child being at the forefront of decision-making, leadership, activism, and advocacy. The session will consist of five girl speakers and one girl moderator. This session will highlight three main aspects of the focus area. The focus area for this presentation will be: “Girls need to be at the forefront of policy decision-making in order to produce girl-specific solutions. We need to eradicate stereotypes about girls’ ability to lead, listen to girl activists, and encourage them to take up leadership positions. We are demanding #GirlsRightsNow as we celebrate their leadership for 10 years of International Day of the Girl!”.

Given the focus area, girls will first share about their local realities. The diverse challenges faced by girls, such as lack of access to quality education, period poverty, mental health issues, gender-based violence, and other challenges identified by the girls themselves, will be shared depending on the local contexts they represent. Second, the girls will share experiences, personal testimonies, and stories of how girls in their respective countries/ regions have been at the forefront of advocating and finding solutions to these social issues. They will also share stories of how it has been challenging for girls to take leadership in their countries. This will enable the girls to share their realities of being girl leaders; the challenges they may encounter, the perseverance, and the courage of girls today, the young women of tomorrow will break the glass ceiling.

Third, the girls will share their thoughts and opinions on the importance of girls having a voice to be empowered leaders in their communities and thereby advocate for social justice. This will highlight how and why it is important for girls to be at the forefront of social change and sustainable development across the world. Finally, the presentation will conclude with the girls sharing their hopes for the future.

We hope you join us on Sunday, October 9, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. EST in celebrating our girls and uplifting their voices.

Bios of our Girl Speakers:

Athabile: I’m Athabile and live in a poor suburb of South Africa. I am 15 years old and attend 10th grade at Hillside Technical High School. I am a participant in the Akhanani Good Shepherd mission after school program. I am the first born of 2 and I have been living with my paternal aunt since 2011.Tagline: Girls voices can change the world

Gayathri: My name is Gayathri. I am 15 years old and I am a secondary grade student in Ipoh, Malaysia. The awareness of my rights through the Good Shepherd Community Service centre, has been a great eye-opener for me. Tagline: Girls cannot be assigned gender-specific roles. Let’s break the  stereotypes

Susan: I am Susan and I am a 16 year old student pursuing STEM in Good Shepherd School, Chennai, India. I consider myself a privileged student with a safe home and a happy school life, while many of my peers have neither. Tagline: Insight is a blessing which drives me to realize that we GIRLS of strength – WE create a stronger world.

Christle: I am Christle, a free spirited teenager aged 18 years.   I am currently studying at Ave Maria Convent, Negombo, Sri Lanka. I think of myself shy/reserved/ peeking out of the box to discover stuff that would blow my mind.  That is how I became interested in the movement for girls, by girls. Now I strive to speak louder on behalf of girls who are struggling in dark tunnels unable to see the light. Tagline:Creating big waves in a serene lake can be overwhelming but ME and WE together, are creating the change that will last a lifetime!

 Isabel: I am a seventeen year old student and a twelfth grader at a Good Shepherd school in the Philippines. Among the things I get to do, I count myself lucky to have been able to speak on behalf of my fellow girls in the past year and a half, and to be able to do it still. In doing so, I’ve come to learn that. Tagline: Life is fuller when you live for more than just yourself.