As the Generation Equality Forum in Paris is fast approaching, adolescent girls from all over the world convened a girl-led event where they invited Action Coalition leaders in a session called “Dear World: You Must Listen” during the Young Feminist Unconference. With more than 160 participants, the goal of the meeting was achieved by girls raising their concerns about what is missing and telling the Action Coalitions and other stakeholders what they should focus on.
Adolescent girls feel that people assume they are the same as youth, and therefore there is a lack of spaces where they can raise their voices and be considered as equal stakeholders; this generalization and complete disinterest in adolescent girls' voices is where tokenism starts. Therefore, adolescent girls all from the USA, Chile, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Lebanon, and Palestine united forces and made demands that spanned across all Action Coalitions to represent those who couldn’t raise their voices and showcase the power and importance of their presence is as we fight for gender equality. Adolescent girls asked youth to champion girl specific issues and emphasized the fact that they should not be an afterthought.