Did you know that 130 million girls around the world are not in school? Or that 25% of girls worldwide say they were victims of physical violence since the age of 15? What about that more than 1 in 3 women alive today were married before the age of 15? Do these statistics shock or anger you? Be part of the global movement for gender equality with the newest club at SUNY Oswego!Girl Up is a United Nations funded, international organization created in 2010 that focuses on the support to create programs for adolescent girls to give them an equal chance for education, health, social and economic opportunities, and a life free from violence. Society has gone too long in not treating women the same as men. With this foundation, Girl Up is looking to turn that around and achieve global gender equality.Girl Up supports the hardest to reach girls living in places where it’s hardest to be a girl. Funds go to underprivileged areas like Guatemala, Ethiopia, Uganda, Liberia, Malawi, and India. These areas are known to have high rates of human trafficking and great disparity in the treatment of women, especially young girls. If we start teaching girls at a young age that they matter, that will make all the difference.
The mission statement for SUNY Oswego’s chapter is as follows: ‘In alignment with Girl Up and the United Nations Foundation’s mission, the Girl Up Club at SUNY Oswego aims to empower others to get involved, teach their communities that girls matter and make sure that girls in developing countries are educated, healthy, safe, counted and positioned to be the next generation of leaders. Girl Up ignites the empowerment of girls, by girls around the world. In partnership with the United Nations, we stand up for girls, speak up for programs that help them thrive, and rise up as a community of advocates out to change the world, for good.’ This gives the chance for college students to be part of the global conversation.
By joining Girl Up you have the power to bring about social change and help the world get equal rights for women. Students are the biggest advocators for change and you can be one of the thousands of Girl Up Club members worldwide to take action. You can learn how to build a movement and make a real difference in the world. Girl Up inspires, trains, and connects girls globally and encourages them to become future leaders and gamechangers.
When girls are empowered, it benefits all of us.
To look up more information or see what more you can do for the organization, go to girlup.org. Be sure to follow their international social media pages with the handle @GirlUp on Twitter and Facebook and @girlupcampaign on Instagram and Facebook. For the Oswego Girl Up Chapter, @girluposwego for Instagram and @GirlupOswego for Twitter. Girl Up meetings will be held every other Wednesday at 5 p.m. in MCC 210.