On the eve of Super Bowl Sunday – a day that celebrates, in excess, everything that is overtly masculine — I offer a shift in perspective to reveal one of the most powerful forces on the planet next to Mother Nature herself — the power of young girls!

Yes, I will be rooting for the underdog New Orleans Saints…but, come Monday, I will be back to rooting for an even bigger underdog: girls and young women and the global challenge they face to be valued, educated, and free to create their own uninhibited futures.

One of our most treasured storytellers of the modern era, Eve Ensler, conveys the reality, complexity and power with her TED Talk from India (November, 2009).  Eve calls for each audience member to rediscover and embrace his or her “Inner Girl” while weaving stories of individual courageous young women from all corners of the world.

Eve Ensler Embrace Your Inner Girl

Eve’s story of witnessing the reunion of a young woman and her father gave me chills. A resilient young woman returns home to her father’s house in Kenya after fleeing years earlier to avoid being mutilated and sold by her father for a few cows. Upon seeing the strong and confident woman in front of him, the father understood the value of educating his daughters and abandoned the practice of genital mutilation for all of his daughters as well. This story is truly a microcosm of the transformation and cultural shift that can occur when an oppressed segment of our global community is nurtured and supported.

Over the past few months, I have found several resources to help further frame the severity of the issue and also the ways in which ordinary people have stepped up to help. Perhaps you will be inspired to find out more, support an ongoing effort, share a personal experience, support girls in your community and/or add to our resources list.

Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.
“If you educate a boy, you educate the individual. But if you educate a girl, you educate a community.” African proverb via Greg Mortensen

“Saving the World’s Women” a Special Issue of The New York Times Magazine, Aug. 23, 2009.
“Women hold up half the sky,” in the words of a Chinese saying, yet that’s mostly an aspiration: in a large slice of the world, girls are uneducated and women marginalized, and it’s not an accident that those same countries are disproportionately mired in poverty and riven by fundamentalism and chaos. There’s a growing recognition among everyone from the World Bank to the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to aid organizations like CARE that focusing on women and girls is the most effective way to fight global poverty and extremism. That’s why foreign aid is increasingly directed to women. The world is awakening to a powerful truth: Women and girls aren’t the problem; they’re the solution.”
–Nicholas D. Krisof and Sheryl WuDunn
Co-authors of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

The United Nations Girls Education Initiative
UNGEI Vision:
“A world where all girls and boys are empowered through quality education to realize their full potential and contribute to transforming societies where gender equality becomes a reality.”

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