The Unfinished Business of Girls’ Rights

How can societies lock in recent improvements in the quality of adolescent girls’ lives and end the violence that still afflicts them? This is the issue prominent writers, politicians, academics and activists deal with in 'The Unfinished Business of Girls’ Rights' report.

Explore our interactive graphic to get a sample of their views.

It has been a year to celebrate progress, to call for scaling up action, to question what is hindering gender equality and to make a renewed commitment to empowering women and girls.

There has been some progress... but the issues of early marriage, female genital mutilation, early pregnancy... remain largely unchanged.
Graça Machel
Founder of the Graça Machel Trust and Member of The Elders
Foreword (p.9)
Girls and women still learn less, earn less, and have far fewer assets and opportunities.

Gathering the evidence (p.15)
It is always the ideas, the resilience and the sheer hope of girls and young women everywhere that ignites the struggle for gender justice.
The force for change will come not just from those who campaign because it is not fair but from those who know it is not smart.

Gathering the evidence (p.20)
Malala had become the world’s daughter.

It was as though the citizens of the world had lifted a curtain and suddenly saw the extraordinary stupidity of refusing to educate girls.

Sally Armstrong
Human rights activist, journalist and award-winning author
'We are the generation of change' (p.29)
We need the talent and insights of girls today to lead our businesses tomorrow.
That’s why expanding educational opportunities for girls isn’t charity. It’s a smart investment in a stronger global economy and in our future.

Indra Nooyi
Daughter, mother, sister, concerned citizen, and CEO of PepsiCo
Creating a brighter future (p.46)
A friend of mine says if she could just walk one day without being harassed her dream would come true.

Anita Haidary
Afghan women’s rights activist and co-founder of Young Women for Change
Tracing the past, building the future (p.78)

'The Unfinished Business of Girls’ Rights' brings together 14 prominent voices – including model and campaigner Liya Kebede, journalist and author Mariane Pearl, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and former US President Jimmy Carter – hailing progress, but lamenting the fact that girls still face huge challenges.

“There is still no country in the world where there is real gender equality,” notes stateswoman Graça Machel.

Threshold moment for girls' rights

This is a threshold moment, the contributors write, where the gains made in maternal mortality, female education and legal protection under the umbrella of the Millennium Development Goals can be built upon by the Sustainable Development Goals, which have gender equality at their centre.

There is still no country in the world where there is real gender equality

The authors suggest 2015 could be the first year in history that forward momentum for girls and women’s rights is not immediately followed by a backlash. But without economic empowerment and equitable education, no further gains can be made.

Read 'The Unfinished Business of Girls' Rights' report

Where we work

Where we work

Africa

Americas

Asia

Europe

Oceania

It has been a year to celebrate progress, to call for scaling up action, to question what is hindering gender equality and to make a renewed commitment to empowering women and girls.

Girls and women still learn less, earn less, and have far fewer assets and opportunities.

It is always the ideas, the resilience and the sheer hope of girls and young women everywhere that ignites the struggle for gender justice.

Malala had become the world’s daughter.

We need the talent and insights of girls today to lead our businesses tomorrow.

A friend of mine says if she could just walk one day without being harassed her dream would come true.

Threshold moment for girls' rights