Analyzing Girl Activism

In researching this exhibition, we asked our guest curators to reflect on girl activism in general. Their responses shed light on both their work and work by other girl studies scholars.

Why study girl activists?

Gianturco: Several reasons. Many people see girl activists as “the future” but right now, girl activists are enhancing education, health, equality, and the environment—and stopping child marriage, domestic violence, trafficking and war. Girls’ activism focusses on virtually all the world’s most intractable problems. Girls may have received the most publicity for working on issues like education, gun control and climate change, but those three are just the beginning. Girls’ eagerness to transform the world is fed by their unique, inherent, attributes: energy and intelligence, creativity and confidence, determination and dreams. 

With the exception of a few like Malala and Greta Thunberg, many girl activists have not been acknowledged or heard.  When girls ARE heard, they recognize their own strength. They understand each other more completely—and they collaborate to catalyze positive change that will affect them, their families, communities, countries and our world. 

 Most people don’t expect young girls to speak truth to power or to be strategic and effective. Girls are like Trojan Horses: they have the advantages of being a surprise!

 Girls’ youth works to their benefit: their creativity, stamina, and resilience win people over.

 Today’s girls are citizens of the world. They Skype, Snapchat, FaceTime, Instagram, and email across borders. Even in places where WiFi is iffy and phone service is unaffordable, girls text. Their world seems small and impact seems possible.

Dr. Kimball: Generation Z girl activists lead important social movements, including the all-important climate movement. In addition to Never Again’s Emma Gonzales and Jaclyn Corin leadership against gun violence, and Black Lives Matter activists, other female students are key players around the world like Agnes Chow in Hong Kong, Alaa Salah in Sudan, and Benjamaporn Nivas, 15. She is a leader of the Thai rebellion against military control of education. T-shirts proclaim, “Girl Power,” “Who runs the world? Girls.” A poster held by a girl in the “Women in White” Belarus demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko read “#Fight Like a Belarusian Girl.” Young Egyptian and Iranian women are using social media to protest violence against women, inspired by the global #MeToo movement. Previous girl and young women leaders of uprisings are described in Brave: Young Women’s Global Revolution.

What trends do you see in girl activism?

Gianturco: Girl activism is “catching.”  Greta Thunberg acknowledges that her activism was inspired by the youth activism against gun violence in Parkland, Florida. I documented “Greta’s” Fridays for Future large protests in four places,  New York City, Copenhagen, Mill Valley, California and Los Angeles…but millions of young people around the world have been inspired to school strike every Friday and to demand climate justice. 

Girls’ rebellion against what they perceive to be unjust and wrong is already reshaping the world. Example: Malala helped reduce the number of girls left out of elementary education. Memory Banda led girls in Malawi to get child marriage outlawed.  Melati and Isabel Wijsen led a children’s movement that got plastic bags banned in Bali.

Unlike the women’s NGOs (featured in my 5 books before Wonder Girls: Changing Our World), many girls groups included boys, who were welcomed as peers and collaborators. Since change often requires involving everyone, this is a positive shift.

Girl activism is happening worldwide. I documented 15 groups of girls age 10-18 in thirteen far-flung countries: India, Indonesia, Israel/Palestine, Kenya, Krgyzstan, Malawi, Mexico, Myanmar, New Zealand, Tanzania,  Tonga, Uganda, the United States.

Girls are unlikely to outgrow their passion for the issues that they champion now. One girl told me, “I will be wedded to this cause for the rest of my life.”

Dr. Kimball: Comparing Generation Y and Z activists in Climate Girls Saving Our World, Canadian Gen Y activist Slater Jewell-Kemker characterizes Gen Z as more confident changemakers, more concerned with social justice issues, and more inclusive–including indigenous groups. Gen Zers think of themselves as braver than Gen Y, perhaps because they were beaten down by economic recession, and because the climate crisis is more visible. Like Gen Y, youth today are comfortable with diversity. Another global trend is the recognition of the need for self-care for mental health to prevent burnout. Activists tend to advocate changing the global economic system to a circular economy.

What do these girls say about girls’ roles in human society?

Gianturco: In the past, Americans tended to infantalize young girls. Now, increasingly, girls are seen as having voices and views worth listening to and respecting. They are valued as important contributors to human society.

Dr. Kimball: Girls in the climate movement, like Greta Thunberg, say that girls have to act like adults because adults act like children in being irresponsible about our environment. Girls I interviewed for Climate Girls Saving Our World are angry that they don’t get to have fun like their parents did as teens, having to organize to save our planet. Girls interviewed for Brave: Young Women’s Global Revolution said they include fun, humor, art, and music in their political work.

Girl Activists

Use the arrows to scroll through short glimpses of the girl activists we profile, and click the “Read More” button to learn about each individual.