Sexual abuse, child slavery and arranged marriages are just a few of the topics that will be brought to light during Girl Effect Week. The week-long campaign takes place at CLU through 8 in honor of International Women’s Day.

Girl Effect is an international campaign dedicated to educating women and girls to overcome oppression, abuse and poverty, according to the Girl Effect website.

Girl Effect Night will kick off the week-long campaign on Wednesday, March 6 at 7 p.m. in the Lundring Events Center.

Guest speakers Sima Mobini of the Mona Foundation and California Lutheran University student Kiera Murphy will talk about the importance of educating and empowering girls on women’s rights issues, said Murphy, a junior political science and global studies double major.

The second event, a screening of the documentary “Girl Rising,” will take place at Muvico in Thousand Oaks on Thursday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. The documentary follows the daily lives of several women and girls from developing countries and shows the injustices they face.

“We need to stand together as an international community to stop this never ending cycle of gender inequality,” said Murphy.

Murphy planned the week-long campaign with the help of the political science department, ASCLU-G and Voice 4 Girls, a nonprofit organization that Murphy began working for while studying abroad in India.

“Because of the nonprofit [work] that I do, I wanted to do something to raise awareness here at CLU,” said Murphy.

Murphy is the U.S. representative of Voice 4 Girls and has been working with them since studying abroad in India last spring.

Her tasks as a representative of the organization include international nonprofit work such as social media, public relations, communication, marketing and branding.

Voice 4 Girls is a nonprofit located in India that focuses on educating women and girls, ages five through 18. This is done through several programs, such as a year-long after school program and a summer program called Camp Voice, said Murphy.

Political science associate professor Haco Hoang said that although most of the repression and abuse that women face happens in developing countries, they face it here in the U.S. as well.

“I think what’s really important is for us to understand that discrimination, victimization and the general violence towards women and girls is truly a global problem,” said Hoang. “But addressing it really will happen at the local, domestic level because you can raise awareness at the global level, but to really be the agent of change, it really often starts local.”

Junior Nicole Mangona, a political science and communication double major, said that in her three years at CLU, this is the first time she has seen a whole week dedicated to women’s issues and hopes to be able to contribute to the cause.

“It’s not only important, but it’s necessary to learn about these issues,” said Mangona. “We tend to focus on our own backyard and easily forget about others.”

For anyone still interested in purchasing a ticket, sales will continue at the kick-off event today and, ticket numbers permitting, at the door for the screening on Thursday. For more information, contact Murphy at [email protected].

Mayra Ruiz
Staff Writer
Published March 6, 2013