Every ten minutes somewhere in the world, an adolescent girl dies as a result of violence. One in four young women alive today was married in childhood. Girls are born with dignity, but stripped away of it as they grow up and face a deeply prejudiced and patriarchal world. Exploited in the media, sanctioned by the state, and controlled by religious fundamentalism, decisions about the bodies of young women and girls seems to be everyone's business but their own.
Shazia Usman, a young Pacific feminist says, "Girls need to know that their body is beautiful, no matter the shape, size and colour. They need to see themselves, their authentic selves, in the mass media, in pop culture. They need to know they can be leaders from the moment they are born.”
Girlhood is an age of asking countless questions and the beginning of much learning and unlearning. It is an age when girls are willing to push boundaries and awaken their activist spirit, forcing us to reflect on our social movements and our efforts for change. This is a great gift to the feminist movement, and we need to ensure that we create space for this much-needed critique and powerful intergenerational exchange.
