The room where girls were the experts

By Naomi Imuro Ramos

“No change is possible without hope. No movement is possible without hope.” - Angela Davis

Have you ever attended a panel where experts are talking about how they got to where they are, in an effort to inspire younger generations to pursue similar paths? Can you imagine a panel where girls and young women are the panellists and their stories inspire older women to continue building a brighter world together?

We recently had the opportunity to experience both through a brief partnership with Unity, the leading platform for video game and 3D interactive experiences. First, six women working at Unity in different areas shared their journeys with the girls in our different Girl Leadership Programmes. Girls were excited about all the different pathways they could explore if they were pursuing a career like theirs.

However, for our second engagement, we decided to explore what would happen if the panel worked the other way around: having the girls as panellists, and the women as audience. We ventured and organised a completely girl-led panel, with girls from our programmes sharing their journeys as advocates for girls’ rights in their communities. We had one girl in India from our Girls Advisory Council and two girls from our Girl Rising Fellowship program, from Algeria and Nigeria, share their stories. We then opened up the floor for questions, where any of the girls from our programmes were also welcome to speak up. And when we mean fully girl-led, we mean it, as one of our fellow alumni was the MC for the panel and supported the development of the structure of the panel.

It is hard to describe this engagement without getting a little emotional about it, but if there was ever a moment to feel hope for the future of girls and women’s rights, it was during this call. The girl panellists shared their stories with strong storytelling skills, and the conversation that followed was full of ideas and a desire to continue to fight for a more gender equitable world. At one point in the conversation, girls were sharing how women at Unity can help open up the path for other young women who’re interested in this male-dominated field, dreaming up virtual internships or accessible online courses, and the women at Unity were sharing their LinkedIn to keep in touch with any girl who might want some guidance in their careers. But overall, just seeing the girls and young women in our programmes share their insights on what makes a brighter future for them and how can older women help get there was enough to feel that the next generation of girls are here with a strong voice and confidence, and it is contagious.

Personally, it made me think how so often something so basic yet so easy to stifle is the fuel for the motor of what we do, and what many activists before us have talked about: hope. If we read about what is going on in the world through algorithms designed by tech bros and like- minded individuals, it’s easy to feel that hope is something scarce nowadays. But every time I have the chance to hear how girls are changing their communities, I get reminded of how that scarcity is directly related to giving way to the louder voices that argue that things cannot change and that we should settle for how the world is as it stands today. Not because things that fill us with hope and that make an impact at smaller scales are not happening.

I think girls’ voices are so full of wisdom because they haven’t been tainted by the thoughts of “it’s better to give up”. These girls are already out there, designing and executing brilliant projects that not only they care about deeply, but are meant to change their lives and others’ in their communities. This panel was a great way of showcasing that when we let girls speak, we are reminded of how easy it is for hope to change us. That fierce belief that Angela Davis talked about: that there is no other way of navigating the fight for social change other than through hope and optimism that things will be different in the future.

I applaud the women at Unity for recognising the value in the stories of the girls in our programmes. Thank you for being willing to hear them, and really see them for who they are: not angsty teenagers, but inspiring changemakers. But above that, I thank all of the girls in our