so the work begins here. it always has for me. and when i talk about seeing myself in these girls, i was one of the lucky ones, because i came from a family that valued me and they valued education. my father, my mother saw me as an equal to my older brother. they saw my light. they fueled my flame. and education was such an important part of me gaining the tools to see myself. so we have to begin with educating these girls. it is unconscionable that 100 million girls worldwide today are not in school. it s unconscionable that tens of millions of young girls are being forced to marry before they re 15 years old. that they are facing female genital mutilation, that they are undervalued all over the
to know right now, hundreds of millions of girls are not in school, that they do not come from communities that see their light. because of racism and poverty, ignorance, violence the greed and desire for power, especially as we re seeing today, that when we don t take these issues seri seriously, we see our rights as women and girls erode for all of us. that these issues are real and we have to do something about it. the there is anywhere but where they are. it s getting her to her own possibility, getting her to see the she that she knows she is, because these girls know who they are. i knew i was smart. i knew i was capable. but i also knew that i lived in a community that wasn t necessarily willing to invest in my greatness. so we have to change that paradigm and do it fast, because
they re born with that. and over the course of their lives that flame can either be fueled, it can be fueled by love, by hope, possibility, resources, but it can also over time be slowly and systematically snuffed out. and when that happens, we all lose. and so this issue is personal to me. because i have always seen myself in these girls. that s why i do this work. and education made the difference in my life. it s the difference for me sitting somewhere else and being on this stage, because education has opened my eyes and my possibilities. it has given he me the tools to envision where the there was for me. so to know that right now hundreds of millions of girls are not in school, that they do not come from communities that see their light, that because of racism and poverty, ignorance,
communities all over the globe, it s really about how do we empower the communities around them with knowledge sometimes, to realize, my gosh, we will all be better off if we make sure this girl is educated. how do we make sure the community organizations who are already doing this work have the funding that they need so they can stop early and forced marriage or make sure a girl gets into school? because we know that if a girl gets into school and can stay into school, it completely changes the trajectory of her life. every single one of us on this stage were once a girl. and we all will talk deeply about our own education and who helped us get there. because that education unlocked for us where we each hoped to go. and so i think that s one of the shared values that we have on this stage, is how do we make sure that girls become the women
and when i talk about seeing myself in these girls, i was one of the lucky ones, because i came from a family that valued me and they valued education. my father, my mother saw me as an equal to my older brother. they saw my light. they fueled my flame. and education was such an important part of me gaining the tools to see myself. so we have to begin with educating these girls. it is unconscionable that 100 million girls worldwide today are not in school. it s unconscionable that tens of millions of young girls are being forced to marry before they re 15 years old. that they are facing female genital mutilation, that they are undervalued all over the world. they are girls like me. and so if i if education