Swath

“Girls experience inequality in every aspect of our lives.”  The magnitude of this statement is still sinking in for me. The very fact that this has me paused; yes me, the one who writes frequently on this topic (see Arylide and Heresy to name just two), is jarring. When you stop to think about it, the ways in which disparity permeates our existence as women are staggering.

 

There is glaring focus in third world countries where blatant and brutal violations of human rights occur as a practice:  Girls are denied education and instead put in the workforce, betrothed as child brides, and subjected to female genital mutilation.  There are the first world problems of gender inequity in the workforce, associated compensation and promotion deficits, and the imbalanced division of labor at home, detailed most recently and visibly by Sheryl Sandberg in “Lean In”.

And there are those seemingly incorrigible, nuanced and subtle ways women are marginalized through the media and the socialization of men, and women themselves, that attack almost invisibly like dry rot, leaving far too many of us reminding ourselves regularly that there is so much more to us than our physical appearance.

    

Today is the second International Day of the Girl.  Recognizing that investing in and empowering girls is vital to drive economic growth, the United Nations officially sanctions this day to raise awareness of the oppression girls face around the globe.  The most hopeful aspect of this resolution, in my eyes, is the acknowledgement that in order to break this cycle girls have a right to be part of the decisions that impact them and require the support of their parents, families and the boys and men in their lives to make it happen.  It’s about time, right?

I don’t know about you, but this empowers me to start thinking differently about the boundaries I’ve allowed myself to stay within.  Who says I have to change myself to find success and love in this world?  Where is it written that a glass ceiling can’t be broken by collaborative and compassionate leaders?  Who defines beauty for me? 

Yesterday at the office a female colleague reminds me, yet again, of the capacity one woman possesses to change the world.  Her e-mail to me says simply this:  “LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!!”

Read more about International Day of the Girl here.