10/11/2023

Four Ways We’re Working Together to Create More Opportunities for Girls to Lead

P&G and our brands recognize International Day of the Girl.

Women leaders from all generations are creating solutions and impact that can help make equality a reality for all.

Together with partners such as CARE, Girl Up, Save the Children and Vital Voices — and through our brands, like Always, Olay and Whisper — P&G has taken action for decades to support generations of young leaders. That’s why we celebrate International Day of the Girl on October 11, a day when the global community comes together to understand the challenges girls face and to help create opportunities for all girls to reach their full potential.

This year’s #InternationalDayOfTheGirl theme shines a light on the importance of digital resources, like Internet access for girls. In our work with our partners, we’re removing barriers to education for girls, developing young women leaders, amplifying their voices and driving greater representation of young women and girls in all spaces, including digitally and beyond.

Here’s how we’re doing it with our partners:

#1: Inviting Girls to #TakeTheMic
Girls are brilliant, innovative and deserve to be heard. On October 11, our long-time partner CARE is calling on girls around the world to #TakeTheMic. Presented by P&G, this movement inspires girls to share positive messages and experiences, encouraging them to achieve their dreams and build a more gender-equal world.

We know how powerful girls’ voices are. P&G brand Always first partnered with youth activist Zuriel Oduwole in 2015 in the early days of the iconic #LikeAGirl campaign, for which she wrote, directed and produced Unstoppable Like A Girl to educate girls about puberty. Zuriel also founded Dream Up, Speak Up, Stand Up; is an Advisory Board Member of CARE; and has inspired more than 50,000 young girls across 21 countries to believe in the power of their dreams and to be unstoppable! Recently, Zuriel helped kick off the #TakeTheMic movement, hosting a series of filmmaking workshops for girls in Los Angeles and Rwanda to help them build the confidence and skills to tell their own stories, in their own voices.

Let’s pass the mic to make sure that every girl feels supported, heard and knows she can do anything!

Five girls of different ethnicities smile while seated on a green chair, surrounded by yellow pillows as, they hold microphones at the Girl Up Leadership Summit. A blue background displayed a white tagline that reads, “Boldly Forward.”

#2: Helping Girls to Move Boldy Forward
With our shared commitment to action, our long-valued collaboration with Girl Up has seen us come together to remove barriers and increase the impact of a generation rising, such as growing more opportunities for girls in their STEM skills. It also includes giving this generation of leaders the chance to increase their impact, which is why we came together with our brands Always, Olay and Whisper to support Girl Up’s “Our Voice, Our Power” Global Summit. Uniting young people from around the world, the two-day event helped provide leaders with the tools and skills they need to use their voice, increase advocacy and inspire storytelling to address some of the world’s intersecting challenges.

In the U.S., P&G brand Secret is helping remove barriers for young women to achieve financial equity by joining forces with Prosperity Now, the nation’s leading racial economic justice organization, and Seneca Women through its #SecretMoneyMoves campaign. This initiative provides Gen Z women with educational resources, including courses, apps and books created by well-known female financial experts, to tackle the ins and outs of important financial literacy matters. The campaign kicked off earlier this year with a group of young women who rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange!

Learn how to make your money move. Power up with Girl Up and Prosperity Now!

A group of 14 young Indian girls, dressed in brown and olive-green school uniforms, smile while gathered outside a classroom.

#3 Inspiring Everyone to See Equal
The images we see, the words we use and the stories we tell matter. We have partnered with Save the Children to develop the #WeSeeEqual program to tackle bias and spark conversations that inspire change. Since 2018, this program has educated young adolescents in Mexico and Indonesia about gender equality and social norms to create equal opportunities for all children.

In India, P&G’s long-running Shiksha program works with multiple partners, including Save the Children, to provide girls with access to education, helping to increase reading and writing ability. P&G India has also launched #ShareThePride, an initiative that works with more than 50 institutions, including undergraduate colleges and post-graduate universities to provide digital upskilling to young women with limited access to digital resources.

A Latina woman smiles holding a "jovenes inspiradoras" sign against a green backdrop. Text highlights inspiring voices in women's empowerment, public health, and climate change, featuring P&G and Vital Voices logos.

#4 Increasing the Impact of Young Women Leaders
Through our partnership with Vital Voices, we elevate young women’s voices via a curriculum focused on inclusive mentoring and leadership training. The Vital Voices That Inspire 10-week fellowship supports those making a positive impact in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Peru and aims to increase their leadership capacity, network and resources to spark sustainable change.

Valery Quintero, a program graduate in Panama shared some inspiration for young leaders, “With small actions, great changes are achieved, and the main change begins with you."

We have also connected inspiring young leaders with the platforms and resources to amplify their influence through the Women Deliver Young Leaders program. Through this collaboration, P&G has helped leaders access the Digital University Curriculum, get support from the Small Grants Program, receive engagements through the Women Deliver Speakers Bureau and created spaces for youth voices to collaborate for change with our partners.

Learn more about Valery, other graduates from the Vital Voices That Inspire program and the Women Deliver Young Leaders making a difference!

These are just four ways we’re developing girls as leaders. Join us and let’s lift up girls around the world. Together #WeSeeEqual.