Were you a Spice Girls fan back in the 1990's? Sshh, I was, I suspect I was a bit old for them really as Wannabe was launched in 1996 and I was 23 years old then but I still loved them. So much fun and such a lot of energy along with their catchy tunes. Baby Spice was my favourite in general but it was Mel C all the way when it came to the voice.
It is 20 years since the original 'Girl Power' tune and I have to say that I love, with a capital L the new video that Wannabe has been loaned to 20 years after its original release.
So powerful to watch all those girls fighting back and shouting out that the world youngsters are growing up in today isn't fair. There has been progress but in so many countries there are still many, many girls and women who are not allowed to own land, gain an education, spend their own money or have a say in important decisions, such as whether they feel ready to marry as young as 14.
I've posted about the Global Goals (also known as the Sustainable Development Goals) a number of times before. These are the follow-up to the Millennium Development Goals and the aim is that by 2030 three extraordinary things will have been achieved -
- End extreme poverty.
- Fight inequality and injustice.
- Combat climate change.
This years focus as part of the fight for these important things is focussed on the rights of girls and women everywhere. In September the General Assembly of the United Nations will meet and we (yes us, Joe average) are being asked to help make some noise so that our objection to girls and women being treated worse off than their male counterparts will be heard by our world leaders and then they can take action.
So please, please why don't you join me and tell our leaders what you really, really want for girls and women everywhere. I've chosen that no girl should ever have to be forced into a marriage that she doesn't want. Having seen in Ethiopia some of the thousands of young women who have ended up needing surgery for a fistula that was caused because their tiny body was not yet developed enough to carry a baby down the birth canal this really tugs at my heart strings.
So join me, take a selfie, showing what you want to see change and then share it socially with the hashtag #whatireallyreallywant and these will all be collected up and presented at the UN to show the strength of opinion that is out there worldwide.
I know it is easy to turn off and believe there will never be change when it comes to some of these massive world problems, like poverty, child marriage and global warming but there has already been massive leaps forward and the more of us that engage and press for change the more it will happen.
We all want change but for change to happen we all have to get on board and make it happen.
Simple steps taken by many people equal collective voice that can't be ignored.
Come on, Join in!
1. Share your selfie across your social media channels or blog
2. Share the updated Wannabe video on your social pages
3. Sign up to ONE's Poverty is Sexist open letter
4. Follow the ONE Girls and Women Facebook page for updates of great articles and resources
Thanks for being involved, Mich xx
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