Two girl-powered videos are taking the Internet by storm today as feminists around the world celebrate the International Day of the Girl.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the Global Girls Alliance today with a video calling for education equity worldwide—and bringing together young feminists from across the globe who know firsthand how imperative such equity can be. Girls in many countries face cultural and institutional barriers to education access, which studies show weakens not only their own quality of life, but the economic and social well-being of their communities.
The girls in the Alliance’s video sing about what their futures could look like if they had better education, drawing attention along the way to the facts around the issue: “98 million adolescent girls are not in school,” they remind viewers, and “when girls are in school poverty goes down, GDPs go up, families get stronger, babies are born healthier.” At the end, Obama and the girls come together and hold hands in a moving show of transnational feminist unity.
The Global Girls Alliance will be led by a cohort of grassroots activists spanning the continents. Supports can donate to the cause on GoFundMe to help girls everywhere access the education they deserve.
Girls Who Code also released a video this week to feminist acclaim celebrating the power of women and girls in technology.
The nonprofit organization, which works to shorten the gender gap in technology and convince more women and girls to get into programming, put together a digital visual album titled SISTERHOOD that aims to inspire girls to mobilize and become active in the fight for equality, and they’ve deigned their first release—the single “Ooh Child”—their anthem. The song and accompanying video, a reworking of the famous single by Five Stairsteps, was produced through a powerful collaboration between singer, songwriter, and producer Tiffany Gouché; rappers Chika and Regan Aliyah; and director Kathryn Ferguson.
The video, which depicts young girls sitting in a circle on their laptops together, working on projects, as well as singing and dancing, . sends a strong message to girls that they can change the world and that they are stronger together. The girls in the video are both coding and dancing, which shows the girls tuning in at home that they can be both logical and creative at the same time; the inclusivity of the young women featured is also a testament to the modern feminist movement, which is being led by girls and women of color, differently abled women and girls from many other communities at the intersections of oppression.
Although only one day is set aside for celebrating the power and strength of girls around the world, these videos are worth playing all year long. Education equity and representation are always messages worth amplifying.
