Who runs the world? Well definitely not girls and definitely not at the United Nations HQ, where at the weekend Malala Yousafzai launched a new campaign about “what girls want”. The girls’ education activist stood alongside other activists and launched this campaign in order to send a message to world leaders ahead of the United Nations general assembly meeting which kicked off this week.
The message from Malala herself as well what was launched felt performative, even as she listed some of the issues girls were facing. She said that she “believed most Governments genuinely want to do the right thing for girls, but we have to put pressure on them” Sadly she is wrong: they don’t —and she must know they don’t.
I am not knocking Malala. She is an incredible young woman who wants the best for women and girls. I mean she was shot by the Taliban when she stood up for her right simply to go to school. But, as I see it, where she is today, she is unable to lead a real movement. The campaign she launched behind the security zone of the UN offices is proof of the disconnect between this kind of activism and the realities on the ground.
Can Malala publicly say what she wants to those in power ? I don’t think so. Does she need to? Yes, if she truly is going to lead and seek change, but that’s not possible in the world of commercialised activism. As we speak millions of girls are being trafficked, subjected to FGM — and in Afghanistan being erased from society.
I know how possible it is to make change but that change needs to come from the top
These are not issues a government or a world which genuinely cares about girls would allow to happen and worsen. The rights of women, and girls especially, are not just secondary to everything that is happening in the world they are not even on the list of priorities for any governments. They are hash tags that such governments bring up only at particular events and on specific dates. This is the problem — addressing gender inequalities has to be central to a government’s agenda in order for things to change.
And this is not just an issue in developing countries, this is an issue in the US where women are being jailed for accessing basic health like an abortion. Here in the UK girls are living in a country where they are invisible to those in power. Just last week it was reported that police in the UK are receiving more reports of rape from 14-year-old girls than any other age group.
This horrific story of course got the attention of our Government but the sad reality is, this is not new. Since 2015 Girlguiding in their Girls’ Attitude survey has been sounding the alarm that young girls were being sexually assaulted as a consequence of young men watching violent porn. These girls/children were crying out for help and no one was listening. No one also listened to countless demands made by young women in recent years asking for public sexual harassment to be taken seriously.
Having worked in the world of activism and government I know how possible it is to make change but that change needs to come from the top. Sadly many of those at the top are men who just don’t get it. They don’t get that actually investing in women and girls and keeping them safe is not just a good thing to do, but it is the smartest and most powerful thing to do for a country and society. If girls are safe and have equal access to opportunities in the world we would actually be able to address so many of the problems we face.
From climate change to global hunger, investing in women and girls is the answer to addressing those crises. I am not just saying this because I am a feminist, but because it has been shown countless times. Yet the who truly run the world just won’t listen or don’t want to listen because they think giving women equality will reduce their power when in fact it will help them live longer and happier lives.
So please let's move the work to deliver for women and girls out of the performance speeches on UN stages and rooms full of celebrities into rooms of power and turned them into action. Let’s not hold back in actually speaking truth to power when we have a platform.
