For us it's about challenging social norms and attitudes to achieve transformative change for girls and their communities. Globally, one in five girls are denied an education by the daily realities of poverty, violence and discrimination. Every day, girls are taken out of school, married far too young, and subjected to violence. This is a violation of their rights, and a huge waste of potential with serious global consequences. Yet we know that investing in girls has the potential to transform the lives of entire communities and countries. We advocate for greater attention to be paid to the specific rights and needs of girls in EU external action, in both development and humanitarian interventions. Girls’ rights and gender equality is a cross-cutting theme within our work on children’s rights, youth economic empowerment, child protection, humanitarian aid and the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.