In How To Think Like An Activst By Wendy Syfret, A quote that stood out to me was “Activsm is a powerful thing. It has the ability to change communities and lives, and recorder the way we think about our place in the world.” Activism is described as attempts to support, obstruct, guide, or interfere with societal, political, economic, or environmental reforms in order to achieve positive change. Activism is essential because it has played a significant part in the abolition of slavery, the protection of workers from mistreatment, the protection of the environment, the promotion of equality of the sexes, the opposition to racism, and many other vital problems. Through activism, there are several additional challenges that could be resolved.
Karinys Carrillo shared an image that stuck out to me; it depicted a little girl holding up a sign that says “Little girls with dreams become women with vision”, which reminded me of the girls and young women in Girl Connected.
The girls and young women in Girl Connected discuss the difficulties that women face in their country, such as being unable to attend school, being told to stay at home to cook, and clean, being pressured into arranged marriages to help support their families and more.
Josie, a is a peer health educator from Pucallpa, Peru. After seeing schoolmates drop out of school due to teen pregnancy, she was encouraged to teach other young women about consent, pregnancy, and why it is important to use protection or to avoid sexual activity altogether. While Josie educates other women about their bodies, Michelle from Kenya battles gender prejudices every day, notably because there are only six girls in her class (including herself) she understands that education will allow accomplishing more to help the other girls and women in her family and community.
Throughout the film, many of the girls state that they are often questioned about why they are advocating for young women and girls and the answer is that many women and other individuals desire to bring change so that women can feel and be empowered. They want women to go to school, to work, break away from, gender roles, to be inspired, and much more.
In addition, because of the many challenges we face today, we must advocate if we want to see positive change. We should also be open to helping one another and educating ourselves. There are many various types of activism that may be used to effect change, such as writing and addressing letters, organizing or participating in a political campaign, or avoiding certain businesses, and also demonstrative forms of activism such as rallies, strikes, or sit-ins. All of these are quite useful in terms of achieving significant improvement in our society.
