The little girls in my life have plenty of girl power. Katy just got named Rotary Club student of the month for her report on Paul Revere, and is the type of girl who - despite entering the turbulent age of tween mean girls - is a natural leader with a beautiful heart, who is nice and fair to others. Ellie, "Sporty Spice", my sister and I are dubbing mini Bill Gates for her love and knowledge of technology gadgets. While my sister and brother in law are still on AOL, Ellie enjoys skyping me (typically when I am in the next room), sending me music files and somehow texting and phoning me on a free app she discovered for her iTouch. Carly has a beautiful voice, brings wearing pink to a whole new level, and just broke a record in selling girl scout cookies for her Brownie troupe, over 550. Oh, all the places you'll go.... The whole world is ahead of them!
Not the case for millions of other little girls in the developing world where their future consists of not being educated, vaccinated, valued, and often marrying and becoming pregnant before the age of 15. Nancy Gibbs wrote a poignant essay in TIME this week that says: "If you want to change the world, invest in girls."
In her story, she writes of a new initiative from the UN Foundation called Girl Up that aims to mobilize American girls to raise money and awareness to fight poverty, sexual violence and child marriage. Girls helping other girls, what an amazing idea! "...And one at a time, a rising generation of American girls helps create the next generation of leaders, for the upcoming quiet revolutions."
With the collective girl power of all the Katy, Ellie and Carlys of the world, you already know this is an idea whose time has come.
Amen, sister!
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