Several girls who attend Catalina Foothills High School and one Northern Arizona University student helped obtain proclamations commemorating Oct. 11 as the Day of the Girl from the city of Tucson, Pima County, and the city of Flagstaff.
The effort to procure the proclamations was spearheaded by Becky Monroy, 15, a sophomore at CFHS.
"We want to make sure that girls have equal opportunities in life," she said.
"Girls like Malala have inspired us to work harder," she added, referring to the recent Taliban shooting of Malala, a student in Pakistan working for education for all girls there who was shot in the head and is now recovering in England.
"The Day of the Girl is important," said Amanda Monroy, Becky's older sister, "because it raises awareness about gender inequality, specifically about global issues related to education, civil rights, economic rights and violence against girls and women.
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"It shouldn't take what happened to Malala for people to realize the importance of rights for girls and women," she added. Amanda Monroy, 18 and a freshman at NAU, secured the Flagstaff proclamation.
The girls started a group called the Girl Project to promote gender equality and girls' issues.
Amanda Monroy learned about the movement when she participated in the Young Women's Political Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., last summer. It was sponsored by Running and Winning, a League of Women Voters' political workshop designed to acquaint high school girls with the political process in hopes of encouraging more women to run for office.
The Girl Project also includes CFHS students Ruby Corrigan, 15, a sophomore; Anastasia Matiatos, 17, a junior; Hayley Flanigan, 15, a sophomore; and Madeline Melichar, 15, a sophomore.
The proclamations promote equality and universal education access for boys and girls among the United Nations Millennium Development goals supported by 189 countries including the United States.
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