International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic and cultural achievements of girls and women. With this celebration, University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Global Studies Program, Women’s Center, Women’s & Gender Studies Program, and Peace Corps, joins the global community to honor girls around the world and to re-commit ourselves to improving their lives through this screening of “Girl Rising.”
And as we celebrate the power of girls, we are compelled to recognize some of the tremendous challenges and barriers girls can still face. This is especially true when we think about girls’ education. Right now, more than 62 million girls around the world who should be in school are not, which makes girls’ education one of the biggest challenges of our time. Some barriers of girls’ education, and overall empowerment, include early and forced child marriage, expensive school fees, transportation difficulties and great distances from home to school, and lack of support for a girl to stay in school.
This film illustrates the reality of some of these barriers that girls face each and every day.
Fortunately, there are many organizations and individuals who are working tirelessly to raise awareness about this issue and to inspire people, like you and I, to take action.
After a brief segment of the film, we with have a conversation with our panelists about their work with girl and women empowerment, domestically and internationally. While the film’s focus is on girls in education, themes such as poverty, early marriage, cultural influence, oppression, impact of natural disasters, gender inequality, violence against girls, family support and influence are woven throughout the stories.
To draw more into your personal experience, we will ask questions along these lines so that the audience will be able to approach girl and women’s empowerment through various lenses.
To learn more about Girl Rising, please visit: girlrising.org
More details at: https://www.facebook.com/events/187737679167331/