No one can escape the effects of climate change, but girls and women in many countries will experience especially harsh consequences due to existing gender-based inequities. Today’s episode features Christina Kwauk, an expert on girls’ education and education for climate action. Christina is a co-editor (with Radhika Iyengar) of Curriculum and Learning for Climate Action: Toward an SDG 4.7 Roadmap for Systems Change (forthcoming 2021) and co-author (with Gene Sperling and Rebecca Winthrop) of...

Gender bias on its own can create unnecessary hurdles for girls. When girls also hold other identities that are demeaned or marginalized in society, however, even more significant barriers merge. Today’s episode focuses squarely on the intersection of race, gender, and girlhood by discussing what it means to be a Black girl in the United States. Our guest is Kalisha Dessources-Figures, Special Assistant to the President for Gender Policy, White House Gender Policy Council. Resources To read...

Today’s guest is the 2020 winner of the Global Teacher Prize, Ranjitsinh Disale. Ranjit has taught at the Zilla Parishad Primary School in Paritewadi, Solapur, Maharashtra, India since 2009, where his leadership helped end teen marriages and saw his female students achieve 100% attendance from a low of 2%. Today, Ranjit shares how he did this and...

Warning: this episode contains language that refers to various forms of sexual assault and violence. This episode discusses the roots of gender-based violence and its prevalence around the world with Sara Ferro Ribeiro, Senior Gender and Human Rights Advisor at the UN Migration Agency. We’ll then hone in on the situation in South Africa--home to one of the highest rates of gender-based violence globally--through a conversation with Teach The Nation Fellow Pearl Oriele...

Today’s episode features Mariana Sanz de Santamaria, educator and cofounder of Poderosas. Mariana talks with us about the costs of not speaking openly about sexual and reproductive health--particularly the beliefs, taboos, and behaviors that take root when clear and compassionate information is not shared in safe spaces. Bio: Mariana Sanz de Santamaria is Colombian. She graduated as a lawyer but defines herself as an educator. She taught for two years in the Town of Barú, an island in the...

Today’s episode features Dr. Urvashi Sahni in a discussion about how to change gendered mindsets by working with boys, girls, and families. She shares her story about coming into gender awareness after being raised in a patriarchal family, being married early, and then experiencing a devastating loss due to gender-based violence. Dr. Sahni runs the Study Hall Education Foundation (SHEF), which operates a network of six schools and four outreach programs in and around Lucknow, India. SHEF has...

A year ago, global lockdowns and school closures put 1.6 billion children out of school. Since then, a year of shutdowns, distance learning, and economic hardship has created exceptional challenges for getting all children, and especially girls, back on track. Today’s discussion focuses on the challenges girls faced during the first year of the pandemic, and features Susannah Hares, senior policy fellow and co-director of the Center for Global Development's global education program, as well...

Today’s guest is the CEO of the Malala Fund, Suzanne Ehlers, who will talk about global priorities in girls’ education, why this should matter to everyone, and what actors like the Malala Fund bring to this work. We’ll also discuss the progress towards equality that has been made over the past few decades, while examining the persistent challenges faced by girls and how those are increasing due to COVID. The Malala Fund was founded in 2013 by Pakistani girls’ education advocates Malala and...

This series will address the reasons why girls’ education must remain a global priority, and why the fate of girls affects the fate of us all. Hosted by Samantha Williams, head of Teach For All’s Global Girls’ Education Initiative, the show will feature conversations with local leaders from across the Teach For All network, as well as global experts in gender and girls’ education. The series will cover topics such as patriarchy, sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, and more....