This year’s International Women’s Day theme was Balance for Better, which focused on bringing gender balance to business, education, government and beyond.
As this March marks 2019’s Women’s History Month, I turn my attention to the women making history today - the woman leading the charge for innovation and global progress in gender equality.
These are some the female activists to look out for right now.
Yara Shahidi
An actor, an activist and a Harvard student, Yara Shahidi has packed a lot into her 18 years. After finding initial success on the US sitcom Black-Ish, Yara has used her considerable platform to bring attention to important issues such as structural racism and gender equality. She has worked alongside Michelle Obama on the Let Girls Learn initiative as well as in conjunction with the UN to create a Young Women’s Leadership Network, which encourages young women from low income communities to access better opportunities.
Her forthrightness, conviction and wisdom make her a role model for young people - particularly people of colour - wanting to make an impact on the world.
Sampat Pal Devi
After witnessing a man in her North Indian village beat his wife, Sampat Pal Devi founded the Gulabi Gang: a vigilante group of women who protect the powerless and fight against traditions such as child marriage and domestic violence. Recognisable by their pink saris, these women offer support and training to others to ensure they have the skills and confidence to support and protect themselves.
Sampat was taken out of school to marry at the age of 12 and had her first child at 15, so now tirelessly campaigns to prevent other young girls experiencing the same fate.
Since its conception in 2006, the Gulabi Gang has gained thousands of members, all of whom work throughout the Uttar Pradesh region to ensure social justice.
It is Sampat’s ability to use her own negative experiences to affect positive change that makes her such a uniquely inspiring person.
Find out more about the Gulabi Gang here.
Marley Dias
Disappointed with the lack of diversity in children’s books, in 2015, Marley Dias started a social media campaign with the hashtag #1000BlackGirlBooks, encouraging people to bring forward any books they knew of that had a black female protagonist.
Now four years old, the drive has collected over 10,000 books - many of which have found their way to the hands of girls in Africa. As an avid reader and passionate feminist, Marley continues to speak publicly for the need for more diverse representation in popular culture - perhaps most notably, at the United State of Women Summit. She was named on the Forbes’ 30 under 30 in 2018 as one of the most influential young people in media.
Leymah Gbowee
Leymah has spent the majority of her adult life fighting for gender equality in Liberia but it was her work leading the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace movement, which helped end the second Liberian Civil War, that brought her global recognition in the form of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, she has gone on to found the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, which provides education and leadership opportunities to women, girls and young people in West Africa. As a member of the African Women’s Leadership Network and the African Feminist Forum, she has used her position of power to speak up for the marginalised and silenced people in her community. Today she continues to travel the world, bringing to light the issues of gender inequality and gender based violence.
It is her steady, peaceful protests that highlight her as a fearless pioneer for good and a spokesperson for the vulnerable.
Manal al-Sharif
Manal grew up in Saudi Arabia, where women’s rights are continually kept tightly reined in by the men who seek to control them. After founding and leading the #Women2Drive movement back in 2011, Manal was imprisoned for ‘driving whilst female’ and only released on the condition that she never drive or speak of the driving ban again. Despite this, Manal continued with her campaign and helped bring about the end to Saudi’s women driving ban in 2018. Since then, she has continued to speak out against oppression of Arabian women and put pressure on governmental bodies to give women more control and freedom over their own live
