How Do We Build a World Where Every Girl Can Thrive?

The nearly-two decades prior to the pandemic saw 82 million more girls in school, girls’ primary school enrollment up 65 percent, and a 25-percent increase in parity between girls and boys completing primary school.

Among the pandemic’s worst legacies has been its ravaging blow to these decades of progress, with 20 million additional secondary school-age girls who may never return to school.

A Time for Alarm about the World’s Girls

Every year on October 11 we celebrate girls for being their wonderful selves, with the right to thrive and to realize their utmost potential. Girls are our future.

Yet this year, from war zones to refugee settings to the countryside to poor urban neighborhoods, girls all over the globe are at risk.

Progress Towards Contraceptive Access in the Philippines

Although reproductive rights are under attack around the world, there remain some bright spots for women’s reproductive rights and contraceptive access.

In the Philippines, since 2012, when reproductive rights and education were finally enshrined in law in this fiercely Catholic country, the government has committed to providing free family planning services to those living in poverty.