Let Girls Lead

The Democrats have chosen a woman to lead the United States. An inspiring moment for little girls across our land. I’m taking a moment to look even wider – at countries where women and girls have very little power. What happens there?

Raising Female Leaders

I call your attention to a program called Let Girls Lead. Right now, they are focused on Malawi, Ethiopia, and Uganda in Africa and Guatemala in South America. They are raising up leaders – women and girls – to change laws and practices in their countries that hold women back.

Girls Lead in Malawi

In Malawi, a common practice has been to send girls who are just hitting puberty to “sexual initiation camps” where they are forced to have sex with older men. Those who get pregnant are married off to men who have complete authority over them.

In 2011, Let Girls Lead teamed up with Malawi’s Girls Empowerment Network and other women and girls to challenge this injustice. They trained over 200 girls how to lift their voices in protest. After training, the girls argued their case for women’s rights before 60 village chiefs and lobbied Malawi’s President. The result : The Malawian Parliament passed a law banning child marriage.

Inspiring!

Share your stories of inspiring programs to teach girls to lead.