Girls and Women: Leading the Charge to Ensure…

In April 2020, schooling was disrupted for over 1.5 billion learners in more than 190 countries following nationwide closures to contain the spread of COVID‐19. Today, a year into the crisis, over 800 million students are still out of school, students are on average losing two‐thirds of an academic year and more than 20 million girls are projected to be at risk of dropping out. This virtual event, held on the sidelines of CSW, will offer an intergenerational space for dialogue, and profile the extraordinary steps taken by extraordinary girls and women of all ages and in all contexts to support girls' continuity of learning during school closures and return to school. These leaders will aim to speak on behalf of the millions of at‐risk girls whose voices are going unheard. They will highlight the essential need to build back equal through gender‐transformative education systems that end harmful gender norms, free girls and boys from narrow aspirations and enable them to work together in the classroom today for a more equal world tomorrow.