Today is International Day of the Girl Child, and we are celebrating girls who changed the world before they became women.
Their activism, skill, and talent made them stand out at such a young age. Here are five girls who changed the world:
1. Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani human rights activist, was the victim of an assassination attempt in 2012 at the age of 15 by a Taliban gunman because she believed muslim girls deserved to be educated. Malala Yousafzai rose to become a global icon of the struggle for girls’ education. At 17, she received the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest Nobel laureate.
2. Anne Frank
Anne Frank is a German-born Jewish girl who moved to the Netherlands during the Nazi regime. While she was hiding at Gestapo, she wrote a diary about the war. She died at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 at the age of 15. Her diary has been translated into over 60 languages. She provided a first-hand account of what it was like to be a Jewish person during the occupation by the Germans.
3. Thandiwe Chama
At the age of eight, Thandiwe Chama staged a protest of 60 children at the neighbouring school after her school was closed because they had no teachers. Soon, Thandiwe discovered that the students were unable to focus while learning in the hot sun. She asked the government for assistance in expanding the school, and they agreed.
Her determination to be educated changed future generations. She received the 2007 International Children’s Peace Prize for her activism in her home country of Zambia.
4. Simon Biles Owens
Simon Biles is the most decorated American gymnast of all time. She won her first championship at only 16 years old.
She is tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by a gymnast from her country, with seven. With 30 medals, mostly gold, she is the most decorated gymnast in history and the most decorated gymnast in the history of the Gymnastics World Championships.
Simon has been an advocate for girls in sport and their mental health.
5. Margaret Knight
Margaret Knight, when she was 12 years old, moved to New Hampshire after her father’s death. She worked long hours in a cotton mill to help her mother and witnessed a serious accident caused by a malfunctioning loom. So she invented a shuttle restraint system that became a standard fixture on looms across the country. She was unaware of the patent system and did not receive compensation for her efforts until much later, when creative and monetary rights were awarded to her.
