Why educating girls is the most powerful force for change

To me women have always been strong in many ways and already in my family I had many role models to look up to: my grandmother is an entrepreneur who emigrated from Taiwan to Spain bringing with her 4 young children, my auntie moved to the U.S. and combined a promising professional career with bringing up her 3 children alone. In addition to close family members, as a child I remember watching Xena, the famous sword-bearing ever brave fighter played by New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless in the ongoing TV show "Xena: Warrior Princess" with great interest. She had a brave heart and strong values and I admired how she fought with courage protecting those who were unable to defend themselves. I thought that when I grew up I wanted to be like her: strong and courageous. Well the story I am about to tell has a lot to do with her, and it's not only about the name. I want to introduce you to Senna. When I first heard her story through the documentary Girl Rising (2013) she was fourteen and lived and studied in La Rinconada, a modest gold mining town in the Andes, Peru. Life in La Rinconada, the highest human habitation in the World, has never been easy. Senna was born into a family that didn't have many resources and struggled to keep her in school.

A girl born on planet Earth today has a 1 in 4 chance of being born into poverty and without receiving education, that is where she and her family will remain for the following generations. But the right education can transform all this. Knowledge is power and Senna's father firmly believed in this and had plenty of dreams for his daughter. He named her precisely after the famous female warrior after he had seen her on TV. He, a gold miner like most of the men in La Rinconada, couldn’t read or write so he didn't know that the warrior's name was spelt with an "X", but what he did know is that he wanted his daughter to grow up as a fearless defender of the disadvantaged, just like the warrior he had seen on TV.

Hence, despite being one of the poorest families in La Rinconada, Senna's father insisted that she'd go to school to learn all the things that he hadn't. He believed that knowledge brought hope and opportunity, and that by going to school his daughter would make a better person of herself and help the people around her. He also made sure Senna saw what became of many girls who weren't as lucky as she was: thousands were sold to men in the cantinas located beside every gold buyer stall in their town.

Senna is one of the lucky ones. However, the truth is that right now there are 62 million girls out of school, more than Italy's population! And that is without counting the many more who struggle every day to simply remain where they belong: in a classroom, surrounded by books and pencils. In fact, fewer than half of the girls in the developing world will ever reach secondary school.

Educating a girl is one of the highest ROI available in the developing world. Taking India's example alone, if 1% more girls were to be enrolled in secondary school its GDP would rise by 5.5 Billion US dollars. Girls need good schools, and they need to stay. Here are some more hard facts extracted from the Girl Rising documentary:

• When parents have to choose, they usually choose to educate the boys. Thus, 33 million fewer girls than boys are in primary school worldwide
• Women operate the majority of farms and small businesses in the developing world
• A girl with one extra year of education can earn 20% more as an adult
• 75% of AIDS cases in Sub-Saharan Africa are women and girls
• In one year 150.000.000 girls are victims of sexual violence
• The number one cause of death for girls 15-19 is childbirth

If girls go to school they are going to stay safer, healthier, get married later and have fewer, healthier and educated children. It is a fact that educated mothers are twice as likely to send their kids to school. This generates a virtuous circle that transforms entire nations, breaking cycles of poverty.

Goals 4 and 5 of the United Nation's Global Goals for Sustainable Development for 2030 focus precisely on quality education and gender equality, respectively. To me these goals are important not only on a personal basis as I have since long been interested in what the current situation is for girls around the World education-wise and what we as citizens can do to drive change, but also because objectively speaking with education, incredible things will happen for girls, yes, but furthermore for their families, for their communities and for entire countries generating a lasting impact.

Now is our chance to speak up using our collective voice to tell World Leaders and the Secretary General of the United Nations who will be meeting in the United Nations' General Assembly in September what we really really want for girls and women around the World.

Educated girls are a powerful force of change. And unlike other changes, this one happens fast. I'm determined to take action because I really really want quality education and empowerment of girls to reach their full potential everywhere. I believe one girl with courage is a revolution, but a wave of committed citizens puts the conversation on the table and brings real change forward. Will you join us?

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Senna today

Thanks to the help and support provided by CARE, a humanitarian organization providing disaster relief and fighting poverty around the world, Senna's family has moved to a city with better housing facilities and schools. She is now attending university, enrolled in a business engineering and computer science course, and participates in sports and cultural activities. Not forgetting where she comes from, Senna has also stood up at a meeting with local officials to demand better sanitation for her old school, and the district is now adding new plumbing.

About Girl Rising

Girl Rising is a global campaign for girls’ education and empowerment. In the inspiring documentary produced by Ten Times Ten you can find the story of 8 girls just like Senna who live in parts of the World where education is still a privilege and not a right. To watch the documentary, learn more about Girl Rising and how you can get involved and achieve something incredible visit: http://girlrising.com/