{"id":134929,"date":"2017-01-13T13:31:25","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T18:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.one.org\/us\/?post_type=one_press&p=134929"},"modified":"2017-01-13T13:31:25","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T18:31:25","slug":"trailblazers-from-business-entertainment-media-and-activism-unite-to-launch-a-global-campaign-to-demand-education-for-all-girls","status":"publish","type":"one_press","link":"https:\/\/www.one.org\/us\/press\/trailblazers-from-business-entertainment-media-and-activism-unite-to-launch-a-global-campaign-to-demand-education-for-all-girls\/","title":{"rendered":"Trailblazers from Business, Entertainment, Media and Activism Unite to Launch a Global Campaign to Demand Education for All Girls"},"content":{"rendered":"

130 Million Girls Globally are Denied an Education \u2013 More than the Population of Germany <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Open Letter to World Leaders Launched as part of ONE\u2019s Poverty is Sexist Campaign<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON<\/strong> \u2013 An alliance of trailblazers from business, entertainment, media and activism have joined forces to demand urgent action by world leaders to get the 130 million girls around the world who are denied the chance to go to school the education they deserve.<\/p>\n

The group \u2013 which includes Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, actors David Oyelowo and Charlize Theron, New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady, and musicians Angelique Kidjo and Lady Gaga \u00ad\u2013 has signed on to an open letter demanding world leaders take urgent action to address the girls education crisis in 2017.<\/p>\n

The open letter was organized by the ONE Campaign as part of its Poverty is Sexist<\/a> initiative and says in part:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are coming together and uniting across our divides to get every girl into school and to make sure she gets a quality education once she\u2019s there. But we need you to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

See the full text of the letter below. <\/em><\/p>\n

In addition to signing on to the letter, ONE is asking people around the world to take part in a mass \u201cWalk-In\u201d on International Women\u2019s Day (March 8) where activists from around the world will walk into their elected officials\u2019 offices to lobby them on behalf of every girl denied an education.<\/p>\n

ONE Campaign CMO Roxane Philson said, \u201cA good education transforms a girl\u2019s life chances, but because poverty is sexist, too many girls are denied this basic right. If a girl is in secondary school she is six times less likely to be married early than a girl with little or no education. And a girl with an education is less likely to give birth young and more likely to make her own choices about when and how many children to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

ONE\u2019s interim Global Policy Director David McNair said: \u201cEducation is crucial to empowerment, and the data shows that when women are empowered, they come up with the smartest solutions and lift everyone out of poverty more quickly. So, if we can solve the education problem, we solve many other problems by extension.\u201d<\/p>\n

Analysis collected by ONE shows the powerful effect of investing in girls\u2019 education:<\/p>\n