Welcome to Day 9 of the 11 Days of Action!

Today, we focus on what needs to be done to attain gender equality, which requires prioritizing adolescents and placing them at the center!

To achieve gender equality, we need to redefine the problem as a “gender,” not women’s and girls’, issue.
To achieve gender equality for all by 2030 (SDG#5), adolescents must be seen as central, for it is they who are most
impacted by gender inequalities over time, and it is they who hold the promise of reversing current inequalities.
–Achieving Gender Equality Requires Placing Adolescents at the Center

Why is gender equality important?

Gender equality is achieved when people of all genders enjoy the same rights, obligations, and opportunities in all spheres of life. Everyone is affected by gender inequality – girls, women, boys, men, families, and sexual and gender minorities (people whose biological sex, sexuality, gender identity, and/or gender expression does not conform to majority heteronormative social norms, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI)). Gender equality impacts people of all ages and backgrounds.

Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents 

Did you know that sexual and gender minority (SGM) adolescents are more vulnerable and impacted differently than their cisgender and heterosexual peers? Existing research demonstrates that the health and well-being of SGM adolescents are heavily impacted by entrenched discrimination and social-structural inequities, that is, conditions derived from long histories of
deeply rooted oppression and discrimination. Now, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, recent research demonstrates that existing social-structural inequalities are being exacerbated.

Together, let’s all actively work to improve social-structural inequalities by broadening the cisgender and heteronormative frameworks that prevail in international public health and policy to be inclusive of SGM adolescents. We need to develop innovative approaches, conduct well-designed studies, and advocate to support these efforts to ensure that adolescents of all genders are accounted for, and that they are placed at the center, so we can achieve gender equality!

Join our Twitter Chat at 12pm to talk about recommended actions for achieving gender equality and share what your programs and policies are doing to actively contribute to a more gender equitable society! What institutional strategies are you developing to maximize gender equality and
inclusion? How is your organization supporting SGM adolescents to achieve gender equality?

Share a photo on Twitter or Instagram completing the phrase “Gender equality can be achieved if we ……”  Be sure to tag @IDG_Summit (Twitter) or @DayoftheGirlSummit (Instagram) with your post!

CAG MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Save the Children

The Global Girlhood Report 2020: How COVID-19 is putting progress in Peril

2020 was supposed to be a once-in-a-generation opportunity for women and girls. The year when governments, businesses, organizations and individuals came together to develop a five-year plan to accelerate progress for #GenerationEquality. Then COVID-19 struck. Now, unless the
world acts fast, 2020 risks being a year of irreversible setbacks and lost progress for girls.

This report looks at 25 years of progress with and for girls and the threats that the looming COVID-19 crisis now poses to those hard-won gains. It includes new projections based on the economic impact of COVID-19 in 2020, expected to increase the number of girls at risk of child marriage and adolescent pregnancy.

This global flagship report is adolescent-friendly and was written with input from a girls’ advisory group and includes written content, girls’ stories, videos, art and poetry in every chapter, as well as recommendations to the global community on how to work with girls to #ProtectaGeneration against the worst impacts of the pandemic.

Translations are available in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.

Please read, act and share widely.

Together for Girls

Keep Kids Safe: During COVID-19 and Beyond
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the existing pandemic of sexual violence against children. However, timely action by the United States Congress can #KeepKidsSafe at home and online. Together for Girls along with other partners created #KeepKidsSafe to call for emergency funding to strengthen child safety and protection programs in the next COVID-19 relief
package. Since launching #KeepKidsSafe, we’ve made great strides in bringing attention to the issue of child sexual abuse in the U.S.

WomenStrong International

What Will It Take to End Violence Against Women: A Dialogue on New Paradigms for Our Era?
Join a conversation about gender equality! On October 13th, @WomenStrongIntl is sponsoring an intentional dialogue about new approaches to ending violence against women and girls between @BlackWomenBP & @MenStopViolence. Register to attend:

The World Health Organization calls violence against women “a global health problem of epidemic proportions.” Despite increased attention to this issue, the current approach is not working for women and girls, men, or the communities in which they live.

What will it take to end violence against women? This critical conversation brings together leaders from Black Women’s Blueprint and Men Stopping Violence – U.S. organizations that work across borders, genders, and movements – to reimagine models for violence prevention.

This event, sponsored by WomenStrong International, aims to:
1. Reimagine violence prevention through an expansion of existing models.

2. Advance a robust dialogue about the dominant story of masculinity and its consequences for men, women, and all genders.

3. Create space for communities to deliberate and decide the nature of accountability.

Speakers will discuss lessons that guide their work, share concrete examples and models, and create space to envision a new way of approaching anti-violence work.

Girl Up Initiative Uganda (GUIU)

As an organization with strong community relationships and partnerships, GUIU challenges and evaluates restrictively normative gender stereotypes at a cross-generational, multi-sectoral level. Their programs are built on youth-led innovative approaches to promote societal change—we encourage young people to design, deliver, and evaluate programs that speak to their issues in a youth-friendly language and manner. In the process, we build their capacities for continued influencing and allow them to advocate for the social challenges and inequalities they wish to address. Through collaboration with community support structures and stakeholders, we
facilitate sustainable, community-led change to create a conducive and safe environment for girls and young women to be confident leaders.