We’re turning up the volume of girls’ voices by celebrating and connecting girls globally.

Why we care: The female voice is under-represented in all media – from press, to radio, to film. This disparity of gender in media obstructs the ability of women and girls to influence change at local and global levels.

How we’re solving this: By training 12 teenage girls in digital, solutions-based citizen journalism GlobalGirl Media seeks to build a more ethical, fair, accurate, and diverse media landscape.

According to the Women’s Media Center, worldwide, only 24% of news stories are about women. Yet women make up more than 50% of the world population and over 70% of the population living in poverty, according to the United Nations. The typical representation of women and girls in media – films, TV, music, print, and social media- is sexist, sexualized, stereotyped, and inaccurate. This adversely impacts girls’ self-esteem, how they represent themselves online, and how they see themselves and their futures.

Our first goal is to train 12 new girls in a new location we’re launching this year – Oakland, California! Our second goal is to produce 24 short web videos in this new location focused on reporting current events through a gender lens. Our third goal is to produce 200 new blog posts over the next year. Your support will cover the cost of an entire training session – from staff for digital media training for three weeks, to digital media equipment, to the travel costs for girls.

Through intensive digital media trainings in camera, sound, blogging, and social media, we’ll target underserved girls, ages 14 to 22 worldwide. Since 2010, we launched projects in South Africa, Morocco, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and are expanding. We partner with local grassroots, non-profit, government, and educational organizations, building capacity to help us realize our goals.

Increasing the number of healthy and complex images of women and girls in media will have a lasting effect on society at large. Cultivating global citizenship and educating viewers about girls and their diverse experiences, attitudes, and realities will provide authentic, powerful content for media outlets and help promote women’s and girls’ rights.

We face government censorship and safety challenges in some locations. However, because we are an educational organization and a student-based organization, the reporting the girls do is not often tracked or challenged by governments.

With your support, let’s amplify the voices of girls together!