Submitting guest blogs is open to Global Washington’s members of the Atlas level and above. We value a diversity of opinions on a broad range of subjects of interest to the global health and development community.
Blog article submissions should be 500-1500 words. Photos, graphs, videos, and other art that supports the main themes are strongly encouraged.
You may not be the best writer, and that’s okay. We can help you shape and edit your contribution. The most important thing is that it furthers an important conversation in your field, and that it is relatively jargon-free. Anyone without a background in global development should still be able to engage with your ideas.
If you include statistics or reference current research, please hyperlink your sources in the text, wherever possible.
Have an idea of what you’d like to write about? Let’s continue the conversation! Email comms@globalWA.org and put “Blog Idea” in the subject line.
By Urvashi Gandhi, Director of Advocacy, Breakthrough
11.30 a.m. I was sitting in classroom 8-C when my younger brother came running to call me home. The groom’s family was here. They wanted an early wedding. My father wanted me to go home immediately.
My mother wanted me to wear a sari.
No one asked me what I wanted.
The next day I spoke to my class teacher. I told her I wanted to study. She discussed it with the principal.
She, and fifteen of my classmates came to talk to my father. At first, my father refused to listen, and my classmates refused to leave.
Today, I am back at school. I am studying to take the board exam next year. I am to teach at my village school.
Reena Kumari (name changed), Ranchi
In states like Jharkhand (India), close to 40% of young girls are married before the age of 18.
Even though India has seen a dip in child/early marriage from 47% to 27% it still contributes to one-third of the world’s child brides. These reductions are primarily in the age group of 0-10 years, but adolescent girls still remain at high risk of early marriage. Continue Reading
A crowd of Seattleites of all ages gathered on Friday, March 8, at the SIFF Theater Seattle premiere screening of the latest chapter of Girl Rising’s short film, Brave Girl Rising. The CEO of Girl Rising, Christina Lowery, participated in a panel discussion after the showing, along with the executive director of Global Washington, Kristen Dailey, and the executive director of the International Rescue Committee in Seattle, Nicky Smith. Continue Reading
Women carry so much of the world’s burdens. Across the globe, women and girls overwhelmingly shoulder the burden of unpaid and labor-intensive household duties. For those who work in factories and on farms, the work in the home doesn’t go away—the women simply wake up earlier. As development organizations and agencies increasingly identify women’s economic freedom as the key not only to empowering women but also unlocking benefits that uplift whole communities, it seems that women now also shoulder the burden of saving the world.
Empowering women economically and realizing its subsequent benefits for communities is easy in theory, but much harder to implement. On February 7th, Global Washington hosted an all-female-identifying panel to share their insights and expertise on using women’s economic empowerment to catalyze their leadership and improve rights for all. This panel was moderated by Teresa Guillien, Managing Program Director, Resource Media. Speakers included Anna Banks, Chief Marketing Officer, Fair Trade USA; Mara Bolis, Associate Director of Women’s Economic Empowerment, Oxfam America; and Dar Vanderbeck, Chief Innovation Officer, CARE. Continue Reading
