The Girl Effect

Since beginning the See Beautiful™ blog a little over one month ago, we continue to be inspired by the work of so many wonderful people. Each day, more and more like-minded individuals are joining the movement and that gives us great hope!

The Girl Effect is one of those hopeful resources that we must share! Their mission is to unite adolescent girls across the globe to end poverty for themselves and the world. Here are some important facts from their fact sheet:

• An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. An extra year of secondary school: 15 to 25 percent.(George Psacharopoulos and Harry Anthony Patrinos, “Returns to Investment in Education: A Further Update,” Policy Research Working Paper 2881[Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2002].)
• Approximately one-quarter of girls in developing countries are not in school. (Cynthia B. Lloyd, ed., Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries [Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2005].)
• Out of the world’s 130 million out-of-school youth, 70 percent are girls. (Human Rights Watch, “Promises Broken: An Assessment of Children’s Rights on the 10th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child,” www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/promises/education. html [December 1999].)

These are staggering statistics that might leave you wondering, how exactly is this supposed to make me see beautiful today? Well, here ya go:

1. See beautiful in the fact that The Girl Effect exists and you can be part of it.
2. See beautiful in the faces and strength of the five women featured in the videos on their website. Click here to watch. 
3. See beautiful by understanding things can change.
4. See beautiful because there are women who are receiving a chance at education and the freedom to marry who she chooses.
5. See beautiful because our lives and the trivial things that consume our day typically aren't reflected in the statistics above, leaving us the opportunity to stop taking ourselves so seriously when the laundry doesn't get folded.

The Girl Effect invites us to see beautiful in all we have and recognize how we can help others. We are lovin' some girl effect!

*The Girl Effect is also featured on the See Beautiful™ website in the "Girls and Women" section.