Angela Kelsey

“I dare you to look at me and see that I am the answer”

I’ve been thinking about the Girl Effect since Tara Sophia Mohr put out the call on Twitter for blog posts earlier this week.

I’ve lent money to women through Kiva and other microlenders, committed to the belief that women’s self-esteem, safety, education, and business success are the keys to nearly all global ills.

But I didn’t think until now about girls’ self-esteem, safety, and education as the first step for women and the world.

The girls in the video are the ages of my three beautiful nieces, ranging in age from ten to nineteen.

The seventeen-year-old met a “hot” twenty-year-old fire-fighter-to-be.  He asked her to meet him for coffee, and her parents gave (somewhat reluctant) permission.  When he continued his pursuit of a relationship, she told my sister, “He’s a man. I want to be a kid and this is freaking me out.”

I was thrilled to know that her head could not be turned by an attractive older man, as my head was turned when I was 17.  She will go to college next year.  She will marry and have children if and when she chooses.

We must find ways for the girls in the video to have the same opportunities, for all our sakes.

Please visit the Girl Effect and Nicholas Kristof’s Half the Sky for ways to get involved.

The girls in the video, like my nieces, are the answer.