This week we want to give visibility to those little and big girls who with their passion, activism, entrepreneurship and social awareness are helping to improve this world.
Promoting female empowerment from childhood is fundamental to cultivate strong and visionary leaders who will inspire future generations. These girls have become role models for many others. It is important that from a young age they have role models with the same affinities, who teach them to question behaviours and attitudes. We believe they are an example to all and an inspiration to their peers and future generations.
They all say that they have had the support of family members and other people who have trusted them since their childhood to be able to carry out their projects.
From Kokoro we encourage you to get to know these girls a little better. Here you have a summary of their exploits.
Changing the world by protecting the earth
Fifteen-year-old Greta Thunberg left her home in Stockholm to protest in front of the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag. She demanded that Sweden’s political leaders take action to protect the environment before it was too late. What started with Greta, with her ‘Skolstrejk för klimatet’ (School strike for climate) sign, eventually became a global movement. Greta encouraged young people to join the struggle and call strikes all over the world. This movement was called ‘FridaysforFuture‘ and continues with a clear goal: to stop the ecological collapse and climate crisis.
Greta has appeared at COP24, the United Nations climate conference, and at the World Economic Forum in Davos (Photo: Greta Thunberg on Twitter).
Autumn Peltier is a Canadian activist. In her speech she calls for the importance of clean, safe drinking water around the world.
At the age of 12, she spoke to Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, at the Assembly of First Nations about the need to protect clean water. She continues to work for equal access to clean water for community and indigenous peoples around the world. (Photo Credit: Autumn Peltier Facebook Page.)
Changing the World from the Ground Up: Education
Malala Yousafzai. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in 2014. She began her fight for the education rights of children and young people in her country, Pakistan.
Malala was born in Mingora, Pakistan in 1997. From a young age she has always been a strong advocate for women’s education. When the Taliban regime banned education for women, she continued to give a voice to all girls who, like her, had been denied their right to go to school and therefore the right to education. She started writing a blog for the BBC telling her experiences and claiming her rights to be able to study and go to school. After these events, Yousafzai was attacked on a bus while she was with her friends and almost didn’t survive. After her recovery she continued and continues to focus her struggle on education and women’s rights, urging world leaders to change their policies on equal rights to education.
Marta Borrell. At the age of 13, she went to Morocco on a school trip and when she returned she knew that she had to take action to ensure that education was equal and of quality for all children in the world. Together with her parents, she decided to go to Mozambique to film a documentary. She talked to the students to find out first hand what their education was like, what subjects they were learning and what their teachers were like. She took part in the UN, presenting the conclusions she drew about the quality of education in the world and the inequality in which women live (Photo: Marta Borrell. Scene from her documentary).
Women in response to needs in society
Lucia Fernández, Paula Fernández, Nuria Villoria, Sandra Caamaño and Lucía Adrián aged between 15 and 16, students at IES Velázquez in Móstoles, created the ‘When&Where’ app in 2019. This app detects changes or unusual movements in a route or route. It is designed to accompany women to their destination safely. If an anomaly appears on the route, the app sends you a message to make sure you are OK, and if you are, it continues with the route. If not, it will send a message with your coordinates to the person you have marked as a direct contact. The aim is that other women can call for help when they find themselves in dangerous situations (Photo: LPSN).
But there are many more. Girls who at their young age are creating great changes. One of the goals of our society should be for girls to empower themselves and see the world differently. Those of us around them should motivate and encourage them to participate in their communities. This is our appreciation to all of them.
