By Laurie Goodman
I recently visited the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam and it was a great reminder that every girl’s voice matters. It can matter the whole world over. A simple account of a 12-year old’s life in hiding during WWII has sold over 30 million copies, translated into 70 languages, and published in over 60 countries. Anne, her mother, and her sister, Margot, perished in concentration camps. As the only survivor of their immediate family , her father, Otto, dedicated his life to seeing her dairies published. They are meant to put a face on the victims of the Holocaust. The exhibit was called “All Her Would-Have’s are Our Opportunities.” Anne wanted to become a journalist and author. Imagine what she would have done.
What Anne Frank taught the world is the power, strength, and courage of a girl. Girls Inc. works with thousands inspiring them to be strong, smart, and bold and to use their own unique voices. Each girl has something to say. Our job is to see that she has the opportunity to say it.
“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn….”
— Anne Frank (1929-1945)
Two brave women, twin sisters Eva Mozes Kor and Miriam Mozes Zieger founded the CANDLES (Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors) museum in Indianapolis. The Mozes sisters survived the Angel of Death, Josef Mengele and his experiments on twins. They created the museum to teach about the consequences of choices, the importance of never giving up, the dangers of prejudice, and the need for genocide prevention today. In 2003, an arsonist firebombed the museum. This further proves the ongoing need to speak up against hate and prejudice and teach courage and tolerance. The community joined and rebuilt the museum. Eva proclaimed that “love will always conquer hate.”
The courage, strength, and resilience that these women showed are values and qualities taught at Girls Inc. We have so much to learn from Anne, Eva, and Miriam. Eva died on July 4 of this year. Her life will be a lesson to millions in courage, love, hope, tolerance, forgiveness, and strength, and her work will go on.
Informed, In-Charge, and In-Action is an advocacy program that involves girls in community education and action. Girls Inc. has always empowered girls to stand up for themselves and their rights. The program allows girls to celebrate their heritage, investigate rights and responsibilities, practice leadership skills, and tackle issues of concern. Girls deepen their understanding of girls and women as social change agents and of leadership as a collective process grounded in belonging to and having responsibility for one’s community.
For example, In 2015, CA enacted the California Healthy Youth Act mandating that schools teach “medically accurate”, “inclusive”, and “age-appropriate” comprehensive sex education. Girls Inc. has experienced difficulty in providing this programming in many Orange County School Districts who are still resisting providing girls with the education they are entitled to by law.
In the summer program, in 2018, as girls participated in the healthy sexuality programming, they discovered that they were entitled to this information at school by state law. Many schools have resisted offering the program despite the legal mandate and the school board has expressed that due to personal opposition to sexual education content, they will not enforce the state law. Girls Inc. members were surprised and became passionate that they had the right to this information. They created “zines” a comprehensive resource information guide that they can refer to and/or share with others for thorough sexual education. Once girls were informed of their right to the education, they participated in a letter writing campaign to effect change within the Orange County Department of Education. Girls Inc. girls have proved that they are passionate about this subject and that they were willing to go into action to protect their rights. Informed, In-Charge, and In-Action is an on-going program. In 2019, Girls Inc. will form a Teen Advocacy Group to work on issues such as these and get even more active in making change in our community.
This program tackles the systemic barriers that affect the conditions in which girls are growing up, particularly those with the fewest resources. The goal is to ensure that girls have the knowledge, resources, and skills to live healthy lives and access meaningful educational opportunities.
It takes courage for girls to stand up to peers and adults. What if the next Maya Angelou, Sheryl Sandberg, Rosa Parks, or Malala Yousafzai were in our midst today? Our state, country, and world cannot afford to lose their contributions. How many voices are being stifled because of poverty, gender inequity, lack of education, and limited opportunity in the workplace? What can we all do to see that this does not happen?
At Girls Inc., each girl has her own story and all are equally important. As a society let us never again have to refer to her “would-have’s”, but instead let us celebrate her accomplishments.
To learn more about Informed, In-Charge, and In-Action, please contact Jessica Hubbard, Director of Program Services at (714) 597-8600 X318.
