There's a lot to be mad about in the world today. (Think: Trump, Congress, Harvey Weinstein, the wage gap…you get the idea.) Which might be why this new video is really resonating with us.
Beyoncé lent her song "Freedom" to the #FreedomForGirls campaign just in time for the International Day of the Girl on Wednesday. It features fierce little girls, ages 5 through 11, singing along to the power anthem. And they. Are. Angry.
The #FreedomForGirls campaign is promoting the U.N.'s Global Goals, an ambitious set of objectives for what the world should look like by 2030. It's a partnership between Project Everyone, UNICEF, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The video was directed by MJ Delaney.__
This is the second time Delaney has teamed up with Project Everyone to create a video promoting the Global Goals. Last year she used the classic Spice Girls song "Wannabe" to ask girls what they really, really want. (Answer: equality.) But this year Delaney decided to strike a very different tone. "Happy, smiley joy doesn't really cut the mustard now," she says. "A lot has happened globally, and I wanted to do something defiant and angry and demanding."
Also, Delaney says, "I feel like the only place you can go after the Spice Girls is Beyoncé."
So what are the girls mad about? Violence against girls (which kills a girl every five minutes), child marriage (one in four girls is affected), trafficking (71 percent of victims are female), female genital mutilation (63 million girls have undergone it), access to education (130 million girls are out of school), and HIV/AIDS (girls are twice as likely to be infected). For starters.
The Global Goals can create a world free of all of that injustice by 2030. But the only way to get there is by pressuring world leaders into action, and inspiring individuals to make a difference in their own communities. "Hopefully, we can use the Global Goals to define this spirit of defiance and optimism and demanding that we all feel," Delaney says. "Every single person in the world has the ability to change something."
To take action, share the film with what #FreedomForGirls means to you. You can also visit the Global Goals website for more information on groups that are working toward gender equality around the world.
