In 2020, Women and Girls Said Yes! This Girl Can!

“This stardust won’t settle because none of us should settle.”

— Jacinda Ardern

2020 is not a year we want to ever live again. Yet amidst all the darkness and pain there was light, and there was hope. We saw grace as neighbors helped neighbors. We saw extraordinary dedication as those who worked, and continue to work, tirelessly to help all those in need and to keep us all safe. We saw such courage as so many stepped forward to speak truth and to exclaim “No More”.

At the end of this difficult year as we anxiously toss 2020 into the dustbin, we must remember all who were lost, all who risked their health and life to be there for others, all who put on their masks and marched, all who found ways to bring us music, art and joy, and all who declared that we can no longer wait for change and who in their courage began to move the needle of social justice and who brought hope.

So much of the light to be found in 2020 was ignited by women and girls around the globe who stepped up, were thrust forward into spotlights they didn’t seek, used their voices, and who simply did their job and in so doing showed that Yes! This Girl Can! We celebrate EVERY woman and girl who showed us the way in 2020. These are just a few who inspired us and who are shining a beacon for every little girl to look to and follow. For all girls to believe in themselves and forge their own way they need to know that little girls just like them can grow to be women of strength, power, creativity, courage, innovation and leadership. As we move forward, and we must, we need the light, we need the hope, and we need the promise. May 2021 bring peace, joy, health, and the belief that change can happen! and that Yes! This Girl Can…and She Will! take us there. Be Safe. Be Well!

“My mother would look at me and she’d say, ‘Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last.”

— Kamala Harris, Vice-President Elect

Jacinda Ardern: The Prime Minister of New Zealand recently won her second term in a landslide and is the youngest woman leader in the world. Her approach to handling the global pandemic has kept her country with one of the lowest rates of infection and death. She voluntarily took a pay cut to stand with all those economically impacted by Covid-19 and recently she made sure that young women had access to sanitary products at no charge in schools. She has faced crisis after crisis in her country with empathy, courage and strength, showing what the future of world leadership can be. During her term in office she gave birth to her daughter and has spoken of her hopes for her:

“I hope that she doesn’t feel any limitations. That she doesn’t have any sense of what girls can or can’t do. That it’s just not even a concept for her.”

Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett: is a 34-year-old viral immunologist, who just might help save the world. Dr. Corbett leads the coronavirus vaccine research at Dr.Fauci’s National Institutes of Health, and the vaccine they’ve developed has been approved and has begun to be delivered to key frontline workers. She recently spoke about the importance of building trust for the vaccine for communities who have historically been exploited by scientific research :

“Trust, especially when it has been stripped from people, has to be rebuilt in a brick-by-brick fashion…And so, what I say to people firstly is that I empathize, and then secondly is that I'm going to do my part in laying those bricks. And I think that if everyone on our side, as physicians and scientists, went about it that way, then the trust would start to be rebuilt."

Marley Dias: When she was just ten, Marley Dias realized there was something missing in her education. Dias wasn’t seeing herself in the books she was given to read and so she set out to collect 1,000 books that featured black girls and she then sent these to the school her mother had attended as a girl in Jamaica. Marley created the hashtag #1000blackgirls on social media which helped her build support and attention..This year Marley debuted her Bookmarks series on Netflix a great series of shorts featuring well known folks reading wonderful books aloud celebrating Black voices and inspiring us all.

“I'm working to create a space where it feels easy to include and imagine black girls and make black girls like me the main characters of our lives.”

Somaya Faruqi: When Covid hit Somaya Faruqi’s town of Herat in worn torn Afghanistan she and her all-female Afghan Robotics Team, “The Afghan Dreamers”, went to work. They designed a low cost ventilator to help treat coronavirus patients. 18 year old Somaya and her team have won numerous international awards for their innovations and are showing the world that Yes! This Girl Can!

“The key to our future is what we are teaching our girls and boys today. We have to make sure every kid has the same access to education, and the tools to make their dream come true.”

Darnella Frazier: With just her cell phone and incredible bravery 17 year old Darnella Frazier bore witness to the killing of George Floyd and ensured that the “whole world was watching”. Darnella’s act of guts and courage brought forth the horror and truth of Floyd’s murder and her video documentation helped to set forth what can only be hoped to be a fundamental change in racial and social justice. She was recently awarded the PEN 2020 PEN/Benenson Courage Award.

"With remarkable steadiness, Darnella carried out the expressive act of bearing witness, and allowing hundreds of millions around the world to see what she saw…Without Darnella's presence of mind and readiness to risk her own safety and wellbeing, we may never have known the truth about George Floyd's murder.” ~PEN America CEO, Suzanne Nossel.

Sarah Fuller: Sarah Fuller became the first woman to participate in a Power Five conference football game when she kicked off for Vanderbilt. No woman before her had ever appeared for any Power 5 team.

“I just think it’s incredible that I am able to do this, and all I want to do is be a good influence to the young girls out there … literally you can do anything you set your mind to.”

Kamala Harris: Senator Kamala Harris is taking every little girl by the hand and saying “walk this way” as she becomes the first African American, the first Indian American, and the first woman to serve as Vice President of the United States. This is something she has done throughout her professional career including as the first person of color elected as district attorney of San Francisco and the first woman, the first African American, and the first South Asian American to hold the Attorney General's office in California state history.

"You are going to lead. You are brilliant; you are strong. I know you hear me. You remember that, OK?"

Kim Ng: Ng became the first female general manager in Major League Baseball, and the first East Asian American in a GM role – highest-ranking woman in baseball history.more than 30 years after starting out as an intern for the Chicago White Sox

. "This challenge is one I don't take lightly,..When I got into this business, it seemed unlikely a woman would lead a major league team, but I am dogged in the pursuit of my goals.”

Gitanjali Rao: To land on the cover of TIME Magazine is usally not something that happens to a 15 year old but this year Gitanjali Rao was selected from a field of more than 5,000 nominees as TIME’s first ever Kid of the Year. Rao is an innovator who brilliantly tackles major issues in her work including contaminated drinking water, opiod addiction and cyber bullying through an app called Kindly. She is on a mission to create a global community of young innovators to solve major problems across the globe.

“If I can do it, anybody can do it…Observe, brainstorm, research, build and communicate.”

Marie Yovanovitch: Ambassador Yovanovitch is a career member of the State Department and has served as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine (2016–2019), to the Republic of Armenia (2008–2011), and to the Kyrgyz Republic (2005–2008) and has been the recipient of two Presidential Distinguished Service Awards and the Secretary’s Diplomacy in Human Rights Award. In 2020 she courageously defied orders and spoke truth before the impeachment committee and stood for her convictions and patriotism. In her acceptance of the PEN/Berenson Courage Award she thanked Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright by recalling her inspiration:

“You told your many female employees—of which I was one—that we should reach for the stars. The power of your example—and not incidentally, the example of your power—has inspired not just us, but many little girls across America, and all across the globe.”