Determined girls have spoken! They want their own magazine. The magazine, which will come out two times in 2014, will put girls own voices at the center of the conversation. Girls will become journalists, editors and columnists. 'By Girls, For Girls,' will reach 2000 girls directly and then when shared with sisters and friends, 5000 girls. By seeing themselves reflected in the media, girls will create and shape new ideas about what it means to be a girl, and a woman, in Burma/Myanmar.
Adolescent girls in Burma are constrained by strict norms that contribute to school-drop-out, exploitative labor, early marriage and trafficking. Parents often expect daughters to leave school to add to their household income and in their work, a weak legal system does not protect against abuse.
When a girl realizes her value, she acts as an agent of change. We want nothing less than to overturn social hierarchies that constrain girls in their decisions, their interests and their imaginations. The magazine, designed and written by girls, will expose girls to new ways of understanding what it means to be a girl, what girls can do themselves and how they can work together. In their own voices girls inform each other on topics often inaccessible to teens such as pregnancy and labor law.
Girls become leaders in their homes, schools, communities and nations. Girl Determined is sparking a movement of girls with leadership skills to advocate for their own rights and a future that does not re-create the risks they now face.