1. Refugees dressed as Disney princesses
In a series of photos posted to Instagram, artist and activist Saint Hoax documented the plight of young Syrian refugees. The campaign, titled #OnceUponAWar, showed the girls dressed up as Disney princesses, talking about their dreams for the future. One photo showed three friends dressed as Sleeping Beauty, Elsa and Belle, explaining that they dreamed of one day becoming teachers. The aspirations of the other girls included becoming a children’s nurse, an actress, a doctor and a sociologist. Through the photos, the artist hoped to raise awareness on the importance of educating and empowering girls in refugee camps.
A similar story from last month documented young refugee women imagining their dream jobs.
2. Emma Watson and Lin-Manuel Miranda rap about gender equality
It can’t get any more adorable than these two. Actress and activist Emma Watson and “Hamilton” star Lin-Manuel Miranda teamed up for UN Women’s HeForShe Arts Week, with Miranda showing off his freestyling skills and Watson beatboxing. The short freestyle talks about changing the narrative for women, who make up half the world’s population. The full four-part interview can be found on Watson’s Facebook page.
3. Switching roles
In a social experiment, UN Women asked men and women from seven Arab countries to switch roles. The men answered questions from a woman’s point of view and vice versa. Questions included violence against girls and society’s attitudes towards women. When they were asked to act like themselves once again, one man acknowledged that he felt their struggle, while one woman said she “felt exhausted because of the distance between women’s perspectives and men’s perspectives in one society.” Another added that “the best thing is to be a girl, but a free one.”
4. Afghanistan’s women’s soccer team:
Soccer is a sport loved by many. But for some, it is an activity that puts those who participate in danger. That’s exactly what Khalida Popal went through; but she never backed down. Through organizing soccer activities for women and gaining recognition as a founding member of Afghanistan’s first national women’s soccer team, she used it as an opportunity to raise awareness on women’s rights. In an interview with People, she said she used soccer “as a tool to stand for our rights” and now, in partnership with Hummel, the team’s uniforms were unveiled, which allow for women’s hair to be covered, keeping in line with cultural norms and “eliminating the need for the players to wear a hijab during games.”
5. Child marriage awareness
UNICEF”s video aims to educate people about the dark realities of children who are forced into marriage. The video starts off by showing typical wedding preparations: getting hair and makeup done, setting tables and decorating, including one sign, which in retrospect, foreshadows the chilling ending: “She Belongs To Me.” The truth is revealed only when the wedding veil is lifted and, just like that, her childhood is gone in the blink of an eye. It ends by saying, “15 million girls will be married this year…before their 18th birthday” and a plea to #Endchildmarriage.
6. #MakeWhatsNext
Microsft’s #MakeWhatsNext campaign asked girls to name an inventor, which yielded many answers, such as Benjamin Franklin and Nikola Tesla. Upon narrowing down the question to list female inventors, names were harder to come by. So Microsoft shed some light on some amazing female inventors, such as Ada Lovelace, Stephanie Kwolek and Yvonne Brill. In celebrating all things “women made,” it empowered the girls in the video to reach to great heights and “make what’s next.”
7. All-female crews
Okay so technically these are two different stories, but they’re both equally awesome. One tells the story of an all-female crew landing in Saudi Arabia, a country which prohibits women from driving. The other, published on International Women’s Day, focused on Air India’s all-female crew operating a flight from Delhi to San Francisco, the world’s longest continuous flight, according to Mashable. How’s that for reaching new heights?
8. Sustainable pads
A “women-led social venture” in Rwanda is working to bring affordable and sustainable sanitary pads to women. Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), based in New York, is manufacturing pads out of banana fibers, an abundant material in Rwanda. The ways in which this initiative helps women are endless: women can actually afford pads, which means they can feel comfortable going to school or work during their period, thus increasing their confidence. Women’s lives should not come to a halt just because they have their period and this action comes one step closer to solving this problem.
9. This Is For My Girls
Kelly Clarkson, Lea Michele, Missy Elliott, Zendaya and other female singers came together for First Lady Michelle Obama’s female empowerment anthem “This Is For My Girls.” Lyrics include lines such as “Remember it’s your life/Live it any way you like/Cause you know you got the right to” and “This is for my girls stand up and be heard/This is for my ladies, my sisters, all over/This is for my girls.” All proceeds from the song will go towards Let Girls Learn, which seeks to break down barriers for the 62 million girls worldwide who don’t have access to an education. Education is critical and can lead girls to become empowered and make a change.
10. Teach girls bravery, not perfection
Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani did a TED Talk about how girls are taught to be perfect by society, while boys are taught bravery. She says, “Most girls are taught to avoid risk and failure. We’re taught to smile pretty, play it safe, get all A’s. Boys, on the other hand, are taught to play rough, swing high, crawl to the top of the monkey bars and then just jump off head first.” She encourages a change in narrative to empower girls to strive to be brave and be comfortable with imperfection.