Powerful women like Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Meryl Streep, Charlize Theron, Angelique Kidjo and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg have given their support to the letter, which says that "women get a raw deal" and "poverty is sexist."
"For the girl who can't go to a decent primary or secondary school or access healthcare, or who is forced to marry while still a child; for the mothers threatened with death when they give life and who aren't allowed to decide when to have their next child; for the women who can't own or inherit the land she farms, nor open a bank account, own a phone, access electricity or the legal system; for the infant girl who doesn't legally exist because her birth wasn't registered and the government hasn't the capacity to collect data on her or her village; for the women and girls who can't take those who are violent towards them to court nor access justice -- let's make sure they all count," the letter reads.
Timed around International Women's Day (March 8), the letter is addressed to German chancellor Angela Merkel and the South Africa's Minister of Health Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. Both women will lead meetings at the G7 in Germany and the AU in South Africa later this year. Women's empowerment will be on the agenda at both events. ONE's ultimate goal with the note is to "lift every girl and woman out of poverty" by 2030.
Read the full letter below and sign the petition here.
Dear Chancellor Merkel and Chairwoman Dlamini-Zuma,
Thank you for your leadership and the example you offer all girls and women.
In June this year you will both chair key summits at which you have placed women's empowerment on the agenda – one in Germany, one in South Africa. These meetings are just before the historic global summit on how to finance the new Sustainable Development Goals in Addis Ababa, which will be followed by the unveiling of these goals in New York in September.
The timing is such that if your summits reach the right agreements, great financing and momentum around girls and women's empowerment can be placed at the heart of the new global goals. That in turn will frame how global policies are decided, and trillions of dollars spent, over the next 15 years.
For the girl who can't go to a decent primary or secondary school or access healthcare, or who is forced to marry while still a child; for the mothers threatened with death when they give life and who aren't allowed to decide when to have their next child; for the women who can't own or inherit the land she farms, nor open a bank account, own a phone, access electricity or the legal system; for the infant girl who doesn't legally exist because her birth wasn't registered and the government hasn't the capacity to collect data on her or her village; for the women and girls who can't take those who are violent towards them to court nor access justice – let's make sure they all count.
Put simply, poverty is sexist, and we won't end it unless we face up to the fact that girls and women get a raw deal, and until leaders and citizens around the world work together for real change. Because when we deliver for girls and women, we deliver for everyone."
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