We are living in a time like no other. Through the hardships and efforts of our previous generations, we have come so far in the areas of civil rights and equality. However, there is still more to do globally and nationally. We as a world community have not yet achieved true equality between men and women in the areas of civil liberties and acceptance. By attending the “Girl Rising” film showing and panel discussion, I was able to get different perspective on the position of women on a global level. The film took the viewers through the lives of real girls growing up in a global community that does not yet fully accept them. The story of a girl struggling to free herself from the kumlari life as a slave, the story of two girls. each fighting for her education in their respective countries of Ethiopia and Peru, and the story of a girl fighting off the advances of an older man in a Middle Eastern country all tell of girls fighting for their chance of equality and acceptance in their lives. Each girl in the film is going through the plight of fighting for her education, for her own rights, for her own future. In watching this, I came to understand that an education is a means to equality for these girls, and it only takes one of them to start a revolution.

In the panel discussion, we discussed the struggle of all of these girls and the girls like them all around the world. In many countries, it is not a priority to educate the girls in each family, but a priority to marry them off sometimes at the age of 2. The discussion then turned to the struggle for equality and acceptance for women in America. Women do not earn as much as men in the professional work world, women face discrimination in typically male dominated field such as math and science from the time of elementary school, and women are still fighting everyday to eliminate those facts. I learned, however, that it must be a fight for every woman and support from every man for us to make a difference in our world. It will not change right away, the change will be slow. We must all fight for equality all around the world.