Why We Need to Celebrate Girls and What You Can Do

This weekend, PaperSeed is proud to support an all-girls football (that’s soccer for all you stateside folks) tournament in Kenya. Girls from 20 schools in the Githurai district of Nairobi will gather for a day of sports and fun where they will learn to (quite literally) strive for a goal, work as a team, and unlock their potential. We're happy to say that it is just one of MANY activities planned around the world in honor of International Day of the Girl Child on October 11th.

So, why girls? As written in this concise article from Global Citizen, girls in the developing world face numerous obstacles to getting a quality education that their male counterparts—simply—will not. As of today, 62 million girls are out of the classroom and missing out on all of the benefits that education can afford an individual. Because of this exclusion, the cycle of poverty is left to continue on. But educating a girl? That benefits everyone. Children are healthier. The economy is healthier.

“But what can I do? How can I get involved?”

We're glad you asked.

First off, by reading this article you have already taken a big step: you’re getting informed. Awareness is the first step toward action. Speaking of actions, Girl Scouts compiled five simple actions you can take this weekend that can make an impact. Among them? Spread awareness! You can also take some friends to the movies and see He Named Me Malala- a biopic about girls education activist Malala Yousafzai.

We hope you will choose to add your voice to the global conversation that will take place over the weekend. Last week, we wrote about the Sustainable Development Goals and made a case for awareness. PaperSeed has chosen two goals as our main focus: Goal 4- Quality Education, and Goal 5- Gender Equality. Insofar as we can tell, you can’t have one without the other.