100 Women: What chance does a young girl have?

If you’re an eagle-eyed What I See Twitter follower, you may have spied a few mentions of the BBC’s 100 Women season. This October, the corporation aims to look at the world through women’s eyes and look at their journeys – all 3.5 billion of them.

For the most part, it has never been better to be a woman, and plenty of advances are being made all over the world. Yet in some places, a girl’s gender still puts her at risk. In Somalia, a staggering 98% of women have their genitals mutilated. In Niger, girls face different challenges: 95% of 15-19 year-olds have babies.

Even in the Western world, where the gaps between genders have been steadily narrowing over the last century, inequality is still present. Though women have entered boardrooms, gender pay gaps persist. Even in America women’s median salaries are well below those of men.

If you’re wondering where we fished all these stats from, head over and watch the BBC’s video on the 100 Women season for yourself. Their tagline is ‘Half the World Speaks’, which chimes pretty nicely with the What I See Project’s aim to give women a voice.

And the similarities don’t end there… if you have a look at who’s involved, you’ll find not one but four of the What I See ambassadors: Jody Day, Caroline Criado-Perez, Jude Kelly and Martha Lane-Fox are all joining in the 'day of debate' on Friday 25th October.

So far, the 100 Women season has seen some really powerful pieces: from an article on the jobs Chinese women are forbidden from doing, to a rumination of the ethics of air brushing in the West. Plenty of food for thought – and a really great endeavour to show some of the struggles faced by the world’s women, and why they should keep speaking up.

Image source - BBC: 100 Women video still