Girl Force: Why International Day of the Girl is still important
Our advocate, Emma knows that girls are a force to be reckoned with
Girl force: Unscripted and Unstoppable. Is this year’s theme for International Day of the Girl.
These words make me feel so warm and fuzzy inside and perfectly convey the massive impact girls and young women can have in society. The expression isn’t quite so overused as ‘girl power’ (I mean, that’s an awesome phrase too but tends to be thrown around quite a bit nowadays) and there seems to be so much more strength behind the words.
We know that girls are a force to be reckoned with – whether that’s school children calling out unfair jokes about girls, or activists and campaigners demanding widespread change.
‘Unscripted’ tells us that girls take action off their own backs, because they want to, and because they’re incredibly passionate about what they’re calling for.
‘Unstoppable’ highlights the sheer determination that girls possess which is such an important quality to applaud. Especially as there are so many obstacles in our way when we want to make change.
International Day of the Girl provides a great opportunity to shout out about all of the amazing things girls are doing and achieving. Talking about girls taking action and creating positive change not only makes me feel so empowered and hopeful for our future, but it’s also a great way to nail down the theme of Girl Force.
In Girlguiding girls and young women have so many incredible opportunities to make change.
Our programme encourages girls to take action in their unit meetings and as part of interest badges. And there are so many other ways that our members can get involved in social action, at a district or national level.
I think it’s so amazing that Girlguiding facilitates change making, after all, we have so many members, all of whom come from a range of backgrounds and have vary varied interests. Together we can tackle such a broad range of social issues and completely change the world for better!
With the environment becoming an ever-pressing issue (and rightly so), it’s great that girls in Girlguiding are choosing to take action around plastic pollution. Last week, thousands and thousands and members up and down the country took part in our week of social action. We all drew attention to the scarily largescale issue of plastic pollution and made our own #PlasticPromises.
On top of this, we’re calling for decision makers to listen to girls’ voices and to make sure we’re included in environmental policies.
It felt fantastic to join forces with so many others. Seeing how much of an impact we can have when we all come together really gave me hope for our future.
Making change and leaving a lasting impact is, in my opinion, one of the best things about being a young woman today. I’m in a privileged position where I have a voice and a platform, and fortunate enough to not have to worry about what repercussions I may face for speaking out. Because of this, I think, it’s especially important for me to take action.
One of my favourite things about engaging in social action and illustrating ‘Girl Force’, especially within Girlguiding, is the inspiring network of people by your side; there’s always someone to back you, pick you up, and push you to fight further.
So with that in mind, today, on International Day of the Girl, what are you going to do to make change?
