Check out the newest issue of The Girl Gazette: Volume 5, Issue 1 for Winter 2024! The Girl Gazette amplifies the voices of girls globally and empowers them through art, poetry, and more. We highlight girls around the globe who are a part of our Partner Coalition organizations.
Youth Ambassador Gladys Njeri shares her experience participating in the Girls First Summit, She’s the First’s annual event that brings together organizations for knowledge-sharing and targeted training, with local and global insights on best practices for supporting girls’ rights.
While menstrual stigma has long been a political topic, one Hon. Gloria Orwoba made a very public plea for women’s and girls’ rights this year in a new and different way. A first-time senator, Hon. Orwoba made her way to the Kenya Parliamentary session on 14th February 2023 in clothing that had menstrual blood. She was asked to leave halfway through the session after her fellow parliamentarians requested the speaker to eject her for supposedly violating the house’s “dress code.” Hon. Orwoba’s actions made a strong statement to advocate for free pads for school girls and female prisoners. As a young woman at the forefront of addressing Period Poverty, this was such a relief for me.
The month of April memorializes sexual violence awareness month. For generations, women have heavily yet wholeheartedly shared the stories of their battles and redemption—empowering other girls to be unafraid to do the same. In the Philippines, a haunting history still lingers: the sexual enslavement of women during the occupation of the Japanese Imperial Army in World War II.
Climate Change and its related effects such as natural disasters, rising sea levels, and extreme weather conditions are known to cause significant socioeconomic stresses. As climate change intensifies, it exacerbates existing gender inequalities, deepening poverty and undermining sustainable development goals.
By Desiree Okonkwo, 15, United States
I used to agree and accede,
As they laughed because the teacher turned off the lights,
Giggle and sniffle while tears formed in my eyes,
Embarrassment forever fortified in my mind,
I used to mumble and mutter,
Watching them rip my culture to shreds,
Mocking my family’s accents as they shook their heads,
Inescapable humiliation bound around me like thread,
I used to whisper and whither,
My hands reaching for a straightener at an awful attempt,
At the role of “white girl” that I only achieved when I dreamt,
Depravedly desperate for any skin whitening bleach,
My immense ignominy a life-sized leech,
I used to resent and recoil from my reflection,
Contempt created by my colored complexion,
Nails digging in as I hurriedly scrubbed at my skin,
As if I could scrape away the black to unlock the white within
Playing a game supplied by shame I could never win
I used to detest, but now I accept,
Bewitched by my brown color with a bit of remorse and regret
That I ever allowed myself to be so miserable misled,
That I ever viewed my home and heritage with horrid hatred,
That I ever believed racist rhetoric that was said and spread,
But worst of all, that I ever assumed that my blackness could make me less than.
You may be pondering why a mere high schooler is writing about paychecks when the relevance of a salary to a child's life is minimal; the truth is, I'm terrified of growing up in a world where my work is valued significantly less than my male counterpart. Undervalued to the extent that women statistically earn only 83% of what a man makes. This everyday experience of women across the globe is known as the Gender Pay Gap.
We’re proud to launch of Safiya Speaks Up, a children’s book and mentor’s guide written by girls between the ages of 15 and 21 from the She’s the First’s Girl Activist Fellowship. This “tell-all” is a memoir of the stories behind the book, as well as the memories we shared throughout its creation.
She’s the First is a non-profit organization that teams up with grassroots leaders to make sure all girls are educated, respected, and heard. As the co-organizers of The Global Girls’ Bill of Rights®, we stand by Right #5, which states: “All girls have the right to comprehensive sexual education and access to free, quality, reproductive healthcare.”
To uplift this right around the world and rally girls together, our Girl Activist Fellowship’s Sexual Health and Reproductive Rights Committee, a youth-led group in STF, is hosting the Reproduce This: Art Contest. The theme of this Art Contest is "Your Body, Your Choice," and we will be accepting all types of visual art mediums (sketches, watercolors, color pencils, acrylic, oils, etc).
*The only eligibility requirements: being a girl* who is less than 22 years old!
The Reproduce This: Art Contest is an art contest hosted by girls, for girls, and will raise awareness for reproductive rights around the world in a SAFE way. All girl-centered and anti-oppressive entries to the Reproduce This: Art Contest will be showcased on our website, and if that's not enough... Selected entries will be showcased in two simultaneous GALLERY SHOWS located in New York City and Nairobi, Kenya, on International Day of the Girl, October 11, 2023.
Create a difference, embrace your talents, and sign up today! Submit your art today!
Use this link to commit to creating artwork (deadline for submission is August 15): bit.ly/reproducethissubmit
*gender-nonconforming, genderfluid, transfeminine experiences included!
Download the flyer here.
By SarahAnne Nigra, 21, She’s the First Youth Ambassador
You can try to take my freedom
My decisions
Strip me from my innocence
Destroy property that doesn’t belong to you
Wipe my dreams with your words
Remove my power
Leave me feeling helpless
Push the standards society has set for girls like me
Tie me down with restrictions
And critique my every move
But the most powerful thing I have is my voice and knowledge
It might get silenced from your ignorance
But you cannot take that
My mind and intelligence will never be yours to take
That will stay even when you try to put me in a box I will find my way out
Every obstacle I encounter I am freed from because I am in charge when it comes to
My education
My dreams
My goals
The knowledge I carry
I will be heard
You can try to take what’s not yours but my mind will always win.
This is a never ending battle
but the willpower I’ve gained from walking out of the impossible cannot ever be
broken
It will not be easy but it is my path
And my voice and decisions will not only be listened to but heard
An educated and respected woman I will always be even when the odds are not in my
favor.
A girl with an education is unstoppable—but barriers like gender discrimination, poverty, and exploitation prevent many girls from reaching graduation. Our Youth Ambassadors created the Power of Poetry campaign to amplify girls' voices about this issue for Poetry Month and the the Global Action Week for Education.
SarahAnne Nigra is a 21-year-old college student who is working toward becoming a psychologist. Outside of her schoolwork, she is a model who loves writing poetry, horseback riding, and volunteering at her local stable. She is also a Youth Ambasssador for She’s the First. “Girls’ rights to me means all girls should have a voice and it should be heard.”
Author: Camille S. Campbell, She’s the First Youth Ambassador
I use my voice to change the world
to help the silent to be heard.
For girls to choose their own path
to spread equality at last.
I use my voice for blocks to burst
for every girl to be the first.
A girl with an education is unstoppable—but barriers like gender discrimination, poverty, and exploitation prevent many girls from reaching graduation. Our Youth Ambassadors created the Power of Poetry campaign to amplify girls' voices about this issue for Poetry Month and the Global Action Week for Education.
Camille S. Campbell, 18, is a She's the First Youth Ambassador (and co-creator of the Power of Poetry campaign!) She's also an award-winning author of four books, including Her Poems: Women Poets Who Changed the World. The #1 Amazon New Release is used in many classrooms. Camille’s writing has been recognized by The New York Times, Girls’ Life, Scholastic, Bow Seat, Penguin Random House, and various journals. She’s an education activist in her home state of Arizona, U.S. When she’s not writing, Camille enjoys silk painting, playing classical guitar, and reading mystery books. You can read more about her on camillescampbell.com.
Author: Melanie, aka MAL
To the little girl who likes toy cars and dinosaurs,
Who likes to get dirt under her fingernails.
You are not any less of a girl.
You feel it in your bones, you feel it when you kick a soccer ball across the field:
You are a woman.
To the little girl who likes dolls and tiaras,
Whose room is drenched in pink from her bed sheets to the wall,
You are not “too girly.”
You feel it in your heart, you feel it when you tie a bow around your hair:
You are a woman.
To the young lady whose head is in the books,
The lady who is sure of her goals, whose dream is her profession,
You are not any less of a woman.
You feel it in your mind, you feel it when you look at the diploma on your wall:
You are a woman.
To the young lady who dreams of a big family,
The lady whose one wish is to fall in love, to have children,
You are not a disappointment.
You can feel it in your blood, you feel it when you hold a sleeping child:
You are a woman.
A girl with an education is unstoppable—but barriers like gender discrimination, poverty, and exploitation prevent many girls from reaching graduation. Our Youth Ambassadors created the Power of Poetry campaign to amplify girls' voices about this issue for Poetry Month and Global Action Week for Education.
Melanie, also known by the pen name MAL is a seventeen-year-old Cuban-American writer and winner of the Scholastic Arts and Writing Silver National Medal in 2022. While writing her novels, she enjoys writing and sharing poetry on social media.
Author: Nova Macknik-Conde
This is for the girls.
The girls who protested,
The girls who picked up a pen,
Moving hearts, changing minds, bringing together thousands,
Using their voices to shout louder than the dissenters ever could,
To show that education is a universal right,
And that they will not stand for anything less.
This is for the women.
The women who knew their worth,
That they were powerful and intelligent,
That they deserved better,
And that they will never be lesser.
This is for the ladies.
The ladies the world over, The ladies anywhere, anywhen, and anywho,
Who stood together and changed the future.
To be a young girl in this day and age,
To look up to these icons,
To have centuries of heroines behind me,
Revealing the path ahead,
Whispering in my ear the truths they upheld so proudly.
A girl with an education is unstoppable—but barriers like gender discrimination, poverty, and exploitation prevent many girls from reaching graduation. Our Youth Ambassadors created the Power of Poetry campaign to amplify girls' voices about this issue for Poetry Month and Global Action Week for Education.
Nova Macknik-Conde is 11 years old and she lives in Brooklyn, NY, U.S., with her parents, her two older brothers, and her two guinea pigs: Cannoli and Snickerdoodle. Nova enjoys writing poetry and fantasy, in addition to being passionate about mythology, philosophy, history, and STEAM. She serves as a Young Reviewer for Frontiers for Young Minds and as a Blogger for Stone Soup magazine. Nova’s writing has been recognized by The Betty Award, the EngineerGirl Writing Contest, the Inklings Book Contest, and Writopia’s Worldwide Plays Festival. Her poetry has appeared in print in Stone Soup magazine, Skipping Stones magazine, and Cricket magazine.
