Celebrate International Day of the Girl

[lapislzi]

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/desmond-tutu-and-ela-bhatt-on-international-day-of-the-girl-lets-unleash-a-21st-century-feminism-to-liberate-women-everywhere-8206649.html

As we observe Domestic Violence Awareness Month, let us be mindful of the women our daughters will become. They are the future of the planet.

[redqueen]

1. There are several hashtags being used for this...

I might just end up finally giving in.

K&R!

[lapislzi]

2. All I know is...my daughter is amazing.

Somehow a bucketload of wisdom and common sense got crammed into that 18-year-old skull when I wasn't looking. I'm not even claiming credit.

If she is what we have to look forward to, we may just be OK.

[redqueen]

3. For those of you who use Twitter... not sure how active these are, but...

From http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/we-can-end-child-marriage-on-day-of-the-girl-let%E2%80%99s-talk-how/3062/
#ChildMarriageHangout

From http://www.care.org/getinvolved/international-day-of-the-girl/index.asp
#unite4girls

From http://www.shakesville.com/2012/10/happy-international-day-of-girl.html?m=1
#internationaldayofthegirl

From http://10x10act.org/2012/10/celebrate-international-day-of-the-girl-online/
# IDG2012

I'm sure there are more.

[redqueen]

4. More...

http://dayofthegirl.org/


Malala and the First International Day of the Girl
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-walker/malala-yousufzai_b_1956241.html


A much needed International Day of the Girl
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/10/20121010614437332.html


Ok I'll stop, I'm just excited.

[lapislzi]

6. Keep going!

They are our future, and they need ALL our encouragement and enthusiasm!

[redqueen]

7. You don't have to ask me twice!

I'll start kicking the thread with related stories every so often.

[ismnotwasm]

5. K&R

[redqueen]

8. Malala, clinging to life after attack, exemplifies International Day of the Girl Child

http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2012/10/11/malala-clinging-to-life-after-attack-exemplifies-international-day-of-the-girl-child/

...

Fourteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai might have been any teenaged girl. She’s devoted to being on the Internet, and her daily behavior could very well be called stubborn, defiant and headstrong.

Against a backdrop of men claiming the religious obligation to search houses to see if anyone was listening to music, watching television, or to find any girls at study, Yousafzai admitted to hiding books under her bed.

But unlike the typical teen defiance that’s often blamed parents’ gray hairs, Yousafzai’s rebellion takes the form of her demanding her right –and the rights of other Pakistani girls –to be educated. And she speaks out for all the girls who are unable.

She’s been working for the educational and the human rights of girls since she was a preteen. At 11, Yousafzai came to international prominence for writing a blog detailing the atrocities of the Taliban in her region of Pakistan. Even as a girl that young and that small, she was a fierce and unflinching voice against the closing of schools for girls, blogging under a pen name for the BBC.

...

[lapislzi]

9. Thank you for this.

I had considered a post about Malala, but chose the more optimistic option. She has been in my thoughts ever since I learned of this horrific attack.

I hope DUers of the praying kind will keep her in their prayers.

[Zorra]

10. The future of the planet.

[redqueen]

11. "When one girl suffers, we all suffer."

It's International Day of the Girl, and here's one incredible girl we look up to: Busisiwe Mkhumbuzi of V-Girls

http://tedxwomen.org/speakers/busisiwe-mkhumbuzi/

Busisiwe is a seventeen-year-old eleventh grade student at Rand Girls’ High School in Johannesburg, South Africa, who is majoring in accounting, history and physical sciences. She hopes to pursue actuarial science or politics in her future career. In her studies, she has achieved a high grade point average with diplomas in English, life orientation, economics, and she holds the Janette Maarschalk for the highest grade point average.

Busisiwe is an Action team leader of V-Girls, a global network of girl activists and advocates fighting against violence through creative events and empowering themselves and one another to create the change they imagine for the world. Inspired by Eve Ensler’s I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls, V-Girls is a platform for girls to amplify their voices and ignite their activism. ...

[redqueen]

12. A couple of fundraisers...

Alternative economic options for trafficked women
http://www.catapult.org/project/alternative-economic-options-trafficked-women

Survivors of sex trafficking learn skills, operate and manage a food catering service.

Why we care: Poor girls and women are vulnerable to trafficking and street prostitution.

How we're solving this: Providing economic opportunities for survivors of sex trafficking.

This project seeks to sustain the economic alternative program for women survivors of sex trafficking, in cooperation with the group Bagong Kamalayan Collective, Inc. (BKCI). CATW has equipped a core group of the women with necessary skills training on the subjects of leadership and organizational management, financial management, cooperatives, and cooking.

...

Brianna was watched and studied carefully for most of her 17 th year.
https://www.sharedhope.org/Forms/500_BriannaStory.aspx


She was an ideal candidate who looked young for her age…and the human traffickers didn’t look at all like the stereotypical pimps she might have suspected. There were three working together, but one was cute and charming and flirty and all were regular customers she waited on at the little country restaurant.

They learned a lot in that year… about her dream to go to Seattle and get away from the restrictions of home and small town life, about her need for tuition money, about her adventuresome spirit, and about her birthday…the day she would be 18 and legal.

He lured her first with warmth and generosity, then with promises and love. Subtly but steadily those things morphed into power and control, severing her ties with family, friends and the outside world in general. She was being groomed for bigger things.

He put her to work in a strip club because that’s how you earn money for tuition, he said… yet he collected all the money she made. Club customers hungrily looked her over and it soon became clear that dancing wasn’t all she was expected to do... Now afraid and panicked, she wanted to leave, but he wouldn’t let her out of his sight.

...

[lapislzi]

13. Gving what I can.

Our daughters deserve every opportunity to be safe, and to excel.

Bravo, redqueen!

[redqueen]

14. kick