Poverty is sexist.

That’s the message that ONE and 36 influential women want to share with world leaders.

Today, not a single country has achieved gender equality, and in poorer nations, being born female guarantees your life will be a lot harder.

As a girl, you’re more likely to miss out on school when your parents ask you to stay home to care for your siblings. As an adult, you’re less likely to have control over your own life because your male peers are responsible for the majority of decision making at home and in the community.

But this year we have an opportunity to change all of this thanks to two important summits taking place in June. On June 7th and 8th, leaders of the G7 will meet in Germany to discuss major global challenges. Then, from June 13-June 16, world leaders will meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the International Conference on Financing for Development. I’m not going to go into details, but suffice it to say these are major moments for development, and key opportunities to address female empowerment.

For this reason, ONE asked some of the most influential women of our time to send a powerful letter to the two leaders leading the events, German Chancellor Angela Merkel who is chairing the G7, and South Africa’s Minister of Health Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma who is chairing the Addis Ababa meeting.

Check out the letter here, I think you’ll be blown away by some of the women who signed it (some of my favorites include Meryl Streep, Sheryl Sandberg, Lady Gaga, and Lauren Bush Lauren).

Then, show every girl and woman, no matter where they live, you’re on their side. ONE’s goal is to obtain 100,000 signatures on their petition. Will you be one of them? Sign the petition here, and help spread the word that #PovertyIsSexist.

Check out some of the discussion around this petition on twitter.

TopicsWomen & GirlsGlobalGender PoliticsPoverty is SexistONEGender EqualiyAnnouncement

Editorial

Demand Equity

36 influential women have a powerful message: poverty is sexist

By Christina Nuñez