To mark the International Day of the Girl on 11 October, girls’ takeovers are taking place across the globe. The positions of over 300 leaders, including people from politics, business and media, are being taken over by girls to push for an end to inequality and to demonstrate that girls can change the world.
President of Nepal
View the girls' takeover interactive wall On 5 October, Sajju, 17, took over the role of Nepal’s first female President, Bidhya Devi Bhandari. As part of her role, she led a mock parliamentary session where she was joined by 40 other girls from across the country, who took the roles of Prime Minister, Speaker of the House and Members of Parliament.
During the session, Sajju presented an action plan focusing on the issues faced by girls in Nepal and the solutions needed to solve them, which was handed over to President Bhandari who was in attendance.
Spanish Parliament
Also on 5 October, girl ambassadors from Nicaragua, Colombia and India represented girls from around the world at the Spanish parliament. Brisa, 16, from Nicaragua, spoke about the importance of having girls and women in leadership positions.
She said: “As politicians we need you to commit to girls’ rights. We want to participate in decision-making spaces where our rights and needs are discussed. We are able to defend our rights if given the opportunity.”
Global company Daiichi Sankyo
In India, 20 year-old Yasmin, an undergraduate student from Delhi took over the role of a senior manager from global pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo on 5 October.
"Young people have a fundamental right and plenty of innovative ideas to be valuable and contributing members in decision-making. The more we work with governments, in corporate environments and in development, the faster we will make change happen," said Yasmin.
Canadian ministers
On 3 and 4 October, ministers from the Canadian Government were accompanied by a group of adolescent girls as they performed their daily tasks. The girls worked with the political leaders to demonstrate their potential to be powerful agents of change.
Human rights and gender equality advocate Nyagua spent the day with The Honourable Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance and had the chance to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
View our interactive social media wall to see how and where girls are taking over