This past Saturday, CHIME FOR CHANGE celebrated its new partnership with Global Citizen focused on gender equality, at the 2015 Global Citizen Festival. Marking the fourth annual Global Citizen Festival this momentous occasion brought together artists, celebrities, world leaders and activists to generate an ongoing movement centered around ending extreme poverty by 2030.
CHIME FOR CHANGE Co-Founder Beyoncé headlined the festival along with Pearl Jam, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay, as well as fellow CHIME FOR CHANGE Co-Founder Salma Hayek-Pinault acting as a co-host. Gucci and CHIME FOR CHANGE served as Presenting Partners of the festival, welcoming 60,000 concertgoers to the Great Lawn in Central Park. The list of attendees, guests, surprise guests that took the stage can be discovered by watching the livestream of the festival embeded below, BUT let us focus on the most important part of the event as a whole – the message.
We attended. Oh you didn’t know that part? Well, we did. And as much as I wanted to be a “grown woman. And do whatever I want.” Or sing about how “awwsome” I am, the overall message was clear. There’s an issue in the world today. There’s an issue with education, economics, the environment, equality, and so much more. But for some reason, we’ve been putting it on the back burner or pretending it’s some made up theory, because it doesn’t affect us directly. Well now it does, and if it hasn’t just yet, it will very soon.
Have you pissed your pants from unknown fear? Yes? Good! Now that I truly have your attention, go clean yourself up and come back. ::waiting music:: There’s still time for us, as a community, to help. No more of this every man for himself nonsense. Those 62 million plus girls that would give their two eyes just to enjoy the free 12 years of education we are granted in most first-world countries. They deserve our help. Those newborns bore everyday into a world that may be left nothing to enjoy because we so selfishly polluted it, to an irreversible extreme. They deserve our help. And everyone deserves clean water and to be treated equally no matter what, so I shouldn’t even give you any reason on that one.
Now as Global Citizen Festival sheds light on the UN’s new Global Goals for Sustainable Development, which represent key targets for the next 15 years, CHIME FOR CHANGE and Global Citizen are working together specifically around Goal 5 – the aim to achieve gender equality, and empower all women and girls.
Recently on Humans of New York, Brandon visited Pakistan and photographed a young girl that didn’t want to be identified by face. She gave from a conservative home where all the women were housewives and her mother has to ask her father’s permission for everything. She wants to be a businesswoman and her mother encourages her when her father is not around. One of the comments on the photos stuck with me so much, I made it into a meme. It reads,”Empower yourself, for by empowering one woman, you empower generations.” –Romesa Qaiser Khan
So here’s the easiest way you can get involved. Go to either www.globalcitizen.org/ orwww.chimeforchange.org/. Look around, read what’s going on, and discover what hits closest to home for you. Before you start your search or press the play button on the pre-recorded livestream, I leave you with words of one of the bravest young women around, Malala Yousafzai, “Education is hope, education is peace, education is a basic human right. Will you stand with me?”