Every girl has a dream. But all too often, the path is blocked by obstacles such as poverty, violence, and social status. Luckily, there are organizations, like the ones below, that are working hard to help girls overcome these obstacles and reach their dreams.
Ending Child Marriage
Globally, 1 in 3 girls are married before they even turn 18. This practice of child marriage occurs all around the world and strips young girls of their freedom and rights. These girls are often unable to achieve an education, experience devastating health risks during pregnancy and childbirth, and become victims of domestic violence.
Girls Not Brides is a partnership consisting of over 1,000 civil society organizations from over 95 countries that is working to end child marriage around their world. Through their efforts, they have developed programs to increase action, strengthened legal policy and laws against child marriage, and made child marriage an international concern.
Social Justice At Care, they believe that girls and women aren’t just the faces of the poverty; they’re also the key to overcoming it.
At Care, they believe that girls and women aren’t just the faces of the poverty; they’re also the key to overcoming it.
The majority of individuals suffering from extreme poverty are women and girls. That is why CARE puts women and girls at the center of their mission to save lives, end poverty, and achieve social justice around the world.
From their beginnings in 1945 as a care package organization who sent meals abroad to surviving soldiers after World War II, CARE has since expanded to bring aid and needed resources around the world to those in need. In addition to food and water, these services include healthcare, education, and protection.
Supporting Indigenous Women
“So that what lives deep within our Indigenous girls and women and Mother Earth can connect and come forth now in these extremely critical times.”
“So that what lives deep within our Indigenous girls and women and Mother Earth can connect and come forth now in these extremely critical times.”
The NoVo Foundation was formed to transform our global society from one of domination, to one of equality and partnership. In addition to their work advancing girls’ rights and ending violence against women and girls, NoVo is working to support indigenous communities in North America.
In Canada, Indigenous women are 4.5 times more likely to be murdered than other women, and in the U.S., Native adolescent women have suicide rates 4 times higher than white adolescent women. NoVo hopes to change this through their initiatives that center on the women community leaders such as the launch of the leadership program Spirit Aligned.
Building a Community
As a freshman at Harvard University, Lindsay Hyde started Strong Women, Strong Girls as a student group to mentor young girls in their community. Now, as a non-profit organization, it helps over 1,400 girls in Boston and Pittsburgh through over 100 school and community sites.
The organization is a multi-generational community of professional women and college mentors who introduce girls to colleges and careers, help increase their confidence, and build leadership skills.
Career Support for Girls
Girls face a lot of obstacles on the road to success, including poverty, teen dating violence and teen pregnancy. To help girls achieve their goals, Soroptimist started the Dream It, Be It program that gives girls the information and resources necessary to succeed.
By surveying hundreds of girls all over the world, Soroptimist has developed an effective curriculum that helps girls overcome obstacles and feel more confident and prepared to pursue their career goals. Since it launched in 2015, Dream It, Be It has helped more than 35,000 girls around the world.
Ashleen Knutsen is a science writer and editor in Los Angeles. After a decade of experience in engineering and research, she decided to pursue a career in science communications to not only spark women and girls’ interest in STEM, but to let them know that they too can change the world.