Hello! It's official! Our new website is created and we are SO pleased with it! We will keep posting things here on our blog for a while, so that everyone is on the same page information-wise, but our website will be updated much more frequently. To make sure you don't miss out, head over to our website right now and hit the follow button! Since our website is new, please let us know if you see a problem by sending an email to girls4girlsrights@gmail.com . Thank you so, so much for supporting our mission, and click below to head over to:

girls4girlsrights.wordpress.com 

Thanks!

~Girls4GirlsRights~

Hey! We've been busy with lots of things, but we are pleased to give you all a few updates! We are working hard on our projects this year (we will post about these once they are more solidified), and are so excited to go to L.A. for We-Day this year! We have a new member, Sofi, who is in charge of redoing our Instagram (check it out! girls_4_girls_rights)! We are so glad to go from four girls, to five girls. I am working on a new website for G4GR, and I'll post about that when it happens --so exciting!  Our email has stayed the same, and (as always) we can be contacted at girls4girlsrights@gmail.com 

We would like to take a moment to mourn the deaths of all of those in Paris on Friday, and we are praying for the recovery of all injured. 

With all of that said, we are hopeful of the worlds ability to change, and look forward to helping this year.

With love,

Girls4Girls-RIghts

I know I said we wouldn't be posting over the summer, but this is too good not to share!

Hi! We are so thrilled to share that the magazine New Moon Girls has offered us the opportunity to be published in their magazine as a role model for other girls! We will continue to post updates as we have them. Also, they want a photo of us in action/one of our events to go with it. We have a few, but if you have attended one of our events and have any good pictures, we would love to see them. We are still checking our email girls4girlsrights@gmail.com over the summer, so send them there!

Thanks for your support, and we love you!

~Girls4Girls-Rights~

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Photos? Send them to girls4girlsrights@gmail.com
Contact us by email if you want to donate!

Women on $10, Summer and Beyond

Hi! Girls-4-Girls-Rights is happy to be spreading the message that a woman will soon be appearing on the $10 bill! The woman in question has not yet been decided. For more info, click here. We are so happy about this major change. It is important that the contributions of american women are celebrated along with the men!
  This summer, we will most likely not have much to report on, but we have lots of tentative plans for next school year, and hope to be able to accomplish even more than we did this year! One member of our group is graduating to high school (congrats Emily!) but has plans to keep participating with G4GR and maybe even bring it to her high school.......
  If we do have anything to report about over the summer, rest assured that we will do so. We would like to take a minute to thank Heather (who we worked with earlier on the 1Billion Rising Flashmobs) for coming to our school to lead a flashmob on that last day of school! It was amazing to see everyone doing it together as a school. Thanks!
  Last, thank you so much for your support this year, financial or otherwise. Without your help, we would have been able to accomplish all that we did. We hope to work harder next year to continue our mission of creating a better world for women and girls. Thank you for doing this with us!

~Girls-4-Girls-Rights~

As always, feel free to contact us at our email girls4girlsrights@gmail.com with suggestions, questions, donations, or anything else. It is only with your support that we can grow!

Update + New Donating Method

Hi Everyone! It's been exactly a month since we last posted, so sorry! I just wanted to let everyone know that we have turned in our check request form to Araxi, and $1000 is now on its way to V-Day! For now, if you wish to donate, instead of using the donate button on our blog, send us an email so we can suggest an alternate method. This is important because our donate button is linked to our school, and our school's financial year is almost over. We have sent in our check request for this years financial year, so any donations will need to be given to us, directly. Our email is girls4girlsrights@gmail.com and our instagram is girls_4_girls_rights

Thanks for all of your support! Let us know by email or in the comments what info you would like to hear from us!

~Girls4Girls Rights~

Day of Silence, Pick-a-Pary $$$$$$$ and Update

Hello Everyone! 
We have some special and exciting news to share! First of all, last friday was a day of silence, where members of the service groups from our school, as well as various supporters wore their causes' color, and were silent for a day. It was a huge success, just like the one we hosted last year! It was great to be able to share the experience of having a day of silence with others from our school, as well as participate in the national day of silence on the 17th. We will try to report more about the experience soon!

Second piece of news: we did it! We have the money we raised from the screening of Girl rising earlier this year, and we are thrilled to say that $1000 will be going to V-Day. 20% of the overall money raised will be going to TBS. We are working on the check request form, and will be sending money to V-Day soon!

We have found some photos of the 1BillionRising Flashmob we attended earlier this year.

Here's one below:

Dancing at the 1Billion Rising Flashmob in Oakland!

Here are also links to some gorgeous videos made by one of our school administrates about 1Billion Rising and We-Day:

https://vimeo.com/120409601#comment_12925535 -- 1Billion Rising Video

https://vimeo.com/121951349 -- We-Day Video

Thank you again to all of our supporters! We can always use your donations and support!

As usual, feel free to contact us if you have comments, questions, suggestions, ideas, or, if you just want to chat, at girls4girlsrights@gmail.com, and make sure you don't miss a thing, by following us on instagram (girls_4_girls_rights).

Thanks!

~Girls4Girls-Rights

THIS IS A CALL TO ACTION-- Stop 50 Shades! Stop People Thinking that Enslavement and Abuse are the Ways to the Hearts of Women!

Hey Lovely People! I am a member of Girls4Girls-Rights, and I am writing to you about the new movie currently in theaters. The movie is 50 Shades of Grey. Before reading a pamphlet from Stop-Patriarchy, I thought it was just another sexual movie. After reading it, I realized how ingrained sexual objectification is in our culture. I personally want a world where a movie like 50 Shades of Grey is released, and instead of people flocking to go see it, people raise outrage over the way women are represented. I would even be okay with a world in which the media stops advertising movies like 5o Shades of Grey! In case any of you are interested in reading something similar to what I read from Stop Patriarchy, or checking out their campaign, here is a link to the campaign on their website.click here (warning, this link contains explicit language)

I really admire Stop Patriarchy's work around abortion and fundamental rights for women in San Francisco and the Bay Area. 

Thanks! Girls4Girls-Rights loves all of you who want a better world for women and girls along with us!

~Girls4Girls Rights~

We-Day + 1Billion Rising + Update

Hey! Sorry we haven't posted in so long! We-Day was FABULOUS! It was great to see celebrities (including Hannah Simone, grl, Colbie Callait, and Mia Farrow) perform live, and talk about their experiences. Check our instagram (girls_4_girls_rights) for pictures! We had so much fun in our FRONT ROW VIP SEATS(!!!!!!!!!)! Now that We-Day is over, we will be working hard to plan our next event, and keep reaching out to people!

One thing we would LOVE for everyone to do, is find a production of The Vagina Monologues (the show written by Eve Ensler, the founder of V-Day) and go see it!

We hope you had an EXCELLENT International Women's Day!

One of the administrators from our school has made a short video about the 1Billion Rising movement at our school (thanks Carmen!) and click here to see it.


If you have any suggestions for us, please email us at: girls4girlsrights@gmail.com We will do our best to reply in a timely manner!

Happy St.Patricks Day!

~Girls4Girls Rights~

P.S. Thanks so much for following our blog. Sorry that we don't post more often!

(Another) VERY Exciting We-Day Update

Hello!

Today (the day before We-Day) we are THRILLED to post, that Olivia Green, an 8th grader from our school, will have her project Rafiki Maji featured at We-Day, and that because of this, we will be VIP's. We are very excited, and hope we are inspired!

~Girls4GirlsRights~

We-day update

Hello everyone! We promised to post any updates about we day, and we are thrilled to announce........
THAT WE HAVE SEATS ON THE FLOOR!!

~Girls4GirlsRights

Flashmob Report!

Hello! Today, we are THRILLED to post about the flashmob we attended this afternoon in Oakland. It began with a small march, then we danced to the song "Break the Chain." After that, Oakland Mayor Libby Shaaf, Lorrain Franklin-Taylor from 1000 Mothers to Prevent Violence and one of the co-founders from Misssey all gave brief speeches. After that, we danced to "Break the Chain" one last time, in spanish. As of now, there are no videos/photos for us to post, but we'll post some as soon as we have some! One person without which this would have been impossible, is the mother of Ronan Kelley (one of the students in our class), Heather. Without  her, we would not have found out about 1Billion Rising, or have been able to participate in the flashmob. Another organization that was at the flashmob, was Stop Patriarchy.  Two of our group members (Elena and Marissa) couldn't make the flashmob, but for us that went, it was a GREAT experience. Thanks, Heather. We would also love to thank all TBS students who showed up to the rehearsals, showed up to the Oakland flashmob, showed up at our school-wide flashmob this morning, and who consented to dance to "Break the Chain" when it was put on the middle school dance playlist. For those that are sad to miss this flashmob, don't worry, there are more! Check the links in the previously blogpost for events and choreography! Even if you are a terrible dancer (like most of G4G) no one is looking at you, with all of the other people there! We strongly encourage all of you to go tomorrow!

Hopefully we will post pics on our instagram soon, in case you have forgotten the link, here it is: http://instagram.com/girls_4_girls_rights/

As always, if you have questions, suggestions, ideas, criticism, or just want to chat, our email is: girls4girlsrights@gmail.com. We love to hear from you, and welcome anything you have to say. We will make an effort to respond to your emails.


With thanks,

Girls4Girls-Rights

Events and programs like 1Billion Rising are part of the reason we work with V-Day, and if you wish to support our and their mission, please consider donating. Anything helps, no matter how small.

IMPORTANT AND URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Flashmob!

Hi all, what is the first thing you think of when you hear the word "flashmob"?
We know you can't be thinking the same thing we are, unless you are thinking "a chance to raise awareness, publicity, and support for a cause"? If you have never participated in the kind of flashmob we're talking about, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE! Our partner V-Day is hosting lots of flash mobs, spread out over a large area. We are so excited that there will be some in the Bay Area! To find a flashmob, learn more about the flashmobs, or learn the flashmob dance, click on the links below.

Websites:

http://www.bayarearising.org (for oakland protests)

https://www.facebook.com/events/700552113396038/?pnref=story (This is the official Facebook page for the V-Day flashmobs. Most of the info is on here for the SF flashmobs.)

http://www.codepink.org/7333/dance_across_the_golden_gate_bridge_one_billion_rising_2015(for golden gate bring protests)

http://www.bayarearising.org(for oakland protests)

To learn choreography:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRU1xmBwUeA

or the mirrored version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRU1xmBwUeA

No worries if you can't make one flashmob, there are multiple to choose from. For those of you who are especially motivated, try making all of them (just kidding!)! We aren't sure which flashmob we'll be attending yet, and as soon as we know, we will post it! Thanks already for those at our school who have already promised to go. If you are a member of TBS, there will be a rehearsal on Wednesday during lunch. Please contact us if you are interested.

If you have any questions, comments, or something is unclear, please email us at: girls4girlsrights@gmail.com or post in the comments, and we will do our best to reply as soon as possible.

We love all of you so much (especially those who will participate in the flashmob-we love you the most - JK!)!

Hope to see you at the flashmob!

~Girls4Girls-Rights~

Hi! We are happy, to announce that we will be going to We Day this year! For anyone that doesn't know what We Day is, click on the link here, and below is a small blurb from their website.  We are also happy that we are not the only ones from our school going, about eight others from our school are going. We are very happy with our work throughout this past year, and hope to continue working to make the world a better place for women and girls.

If you have any questions about We-Day (or anything else) please email us at girls4girlsrights@gmail.com or post comments. We love hearing from you!


~Girls 4 Girls Rights~

P.S. Remember to keep checking our instagram!




Some info on We-Day:

"We Day is the movement of our time, empowering a generation of young global citizens through an inspirational event and a year-long educational initiative called We Act, which offers curricular resources, campaigns and materials to help turn the day’s inspiration into sustained activation. We Act is the blueprint for young people to take action as agents of social change. Why? Because we believe that we are the first generation that can truly end the worst forms of poverty, embrace we thinking and we acting and remove the barriers to youth being agents of social change. And there’s no time to waste: every single day we have the opportunity to make this world a better place. And everyone has a role to play. How are we doing this? By pushing forward the boundaries of charity and creating change. It’s a worldwide movement that proves anyone can change the world—and revolutionizes how we make that change."

V-Day

Hi Guys!

We realized we haven't posted very much info about V-Day, and since we are asking you to donate money to our cause, which is partnering with theirs, we thought we should post some info.

This is a paragraph of how V-Day describes themselves: 

"Across the globe, in some of the most underserved areas, V-Day partners with local activists to transform the lives of girls and women at risk of violence through safe houses., community centers where survivors can develop their innate leadership, be safe, heal, and learn. Despite the political and social contexts in which women and girls may live, the safe houses provide a path to overcoming social barriers that otherwise keep them unsafe."

V-Day has safe houses for girls in:

-Haiti (three)
-Kenya (two)
-U.S. (one)
-Democratic Republic of Congo (one)

We know this may seem like a small number, but V-Day needs our support to expand, and continue fighting.

If you with to donate, click the button below (which will take you to the PayPal site for our group. If the donate button isn't working here, there is one on the homepage of our blog.)

As always, if you would like more information about our group, post questions in the comments, or email us at: girls4girlsrights@gmail.com 
If you would just like more general info, or have a specific question, PLEASE email us. We would love so much to hear from you!

Thanks! We couldn't do it without you guys!

~Girls 4 Girls Rights~

Project Zambia

Hello blog readers!

Today, we are happy to be posting about another service group from our school. Project Zambia is run by our friends Anne, Mia and Ella. They are working to help a school in Zambia. If you want to know more about their project, their email is zambiaproject.ame@gmail.com

We hope you check out their website!

~Girls-4-Girls Rights~

(Another) Update

Hi! I know we haven't posted for a while (we feel so bad about that, by the way), so here are some updates!
Other than our blog, we now have instagram http://instagram.com/girls_4_girls_rights/ (follow us!)
We are thinking about expanding our online presence to include some sort of online funding site, and adding more social media. We are going to have more meetings, and as soon as we know the details of our next event, we'll post them.
If any of you have any suggestions or ideas, email us at girls4girlsrights@gmail.com or post things in comments.


~Girls-4-Girls Rights~

Caged Bird

Caged Bird
By Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longs for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged birds
sings of freedom.

~Girls4Girls Rights~