Today, October 11, 2012, is the first United Nations International Day of the Girl! The Day of the Girl was established to help advance the gender related goals of the UN Millenium Development project. It is not just a day but a movement to:
" help galvanize worldwide enthusiasm for goals to better girls’ lives, providing an opportunity for them to show leadership and reach their full potential.”
At Ode we are always trying to work with groups that are committed to the advancement of girls and women in various parts of the world. That is why we choose, for example, to have our alpaca sweaters for F/W 2012 to be made by AHA Bolivia rather than a large factory. And why for S/S 2013 we are working with Indego Africa to make skirts from Dutch wax prints.
Sadly, the first International Day of the Girl coincides with the heinous shooting of Malala Yousufzai by the Taliban in Pakistan. Malala, a 14 year old activist was specifically targeted by the Taliban for her outspoken support of girls' education. The tragedy does, however, serve as reminder of why we need an international movement that addresses girls' issues around the world - from education to body image to child marriages and systemic rape as tool of war.
Malala is the most recent reminder to me of the pressing need for women and girls to stand up and be heard. Recently I also watched the two part PBS documentary of Half the Sky which started as a book by New York Times writers Nicolas Kristof and Cheryl WuDunn and is now a worldwide movement! The book is life-changing in the way it propels you to see the world and the place of the girls within it.
To do our part in the launch of International Day of the Girl, we at Ode are teaming up with a orphange in India that houses abandoned and orphaned girls - Sheela Bal Bhavan. For our upcoming annual pilgrimage to India we are going plannning on filling a few suitcases with things the girls need and things they may want - even things they may not know they want. And instead of just buying all of the items, I am going to make my own mini-movement to bring awareness to the people around us. I am partnering with my kids' classes and school so each child can bring something in for the girls. And when we are there we will try to skype with the classes and take pictures with the girls to bring back. My kids are young, 8 and 5, but the I am excited about the things they will learn from this. I hope to establish a more long-term relationship with Sheela Bal Bhavan and will explore those opportunites when we visit.
Amisha, for her part to help launch International Day of the Girl, has been working on a promotional tote for 10x10, a social action campaign that has a single message: "Educating girls will change the world".
There are a number of links in this post that you can use to do your part to promote girls' issues around the world. I know that reading about them can often make you think that you have no big ideas to help. But as you can see from what Amisha and I are doing, you can contribute in your own small way and change can come from a million little actions!
