What Does It Mean to Be an Activist Today?

For girls in some countries, fighting for their rights can mean risking their reputation, being disowned by their families and sometimes even physical violence and death. To succeed, it also requires what we call “determined optimism.”

Three years ago, Anna was taken to a forest in the middle of nowhere.

There, she realized quickly that she was being forced to take part in a secret ceremony – a ritual that some say has been practiced since ancient Egypt.

She was going to be cut against her will, undergoing female genital mutilation.

Anna was 15 years old.

Thankfully, police raided the ceremony. They arrested the organizers, and Anna and the other girls were freed.

But when she came home, there was another problem.

Her parents saw FGM as a necessary rite of passage before marriage. They were struggling financially and needed the dowry from Anna’s marriage to secure their future.

“They were furious with me and decided to stop supporting me so that I would give up my education and accept that I had to get married,’’ she says.

Anna’s education is her top priority

That didn’t happen. Now 18, Anna is determined to create a different future for herself. A diligent student, she has received awards to keep studying so she can achieve her dream of being a neurosurgeon. She has also started a business, buying and selling groundnuts and popcorn with other students in her school. With that money, she supports herself without her parents, buying her own school uniform and necessities like sanitary pads, which she couldn’t afford before.

Many girls in Tanzania have a different story.

While FGM was banned in 1998, it continues to be practiced in places like the northern region of Mara, where Anna is from. It’s seen as a rite of passage for young girls, about half of whom are married before they turn 18.

“I won’t stop until harmful practices like FGM against girls end," Anna says. “I’ll help other girls who are afraid to stand strong when the time comes for them.”

In the fight for social change, youth like Anna are leading the charge with help from the Protecting Girls from Harmful Practices project, implemented by Plan International and a local partner in Tanzania. The project aims to prevent child, early and forced marriage as well as female genital mutilation.

Fighting for girls’ rights is risky, especially for young women

Think about Malala Yousafzai, fighting for her right to be educated under the Taliban in Pakistan; Samar Esmaeli protesting Iranian laws that force women to wear the hijab; and Stacy Owino, who made an app to tackle FGM in Kenya.

While activism is mostly allowed and accepted in North America and Western Europe, girls who stand up for their rights in countries like Tanzania risk their reputation, disownment from their families and sometimes even physical violence and death.

“Girls may face ostracism or even violence if they behave in ways that violate written or unwritten norms,” says Deepak Bhargava, a community organizer and the president of the JPB Foundation in New York.

But, Bhargava says, activism changes how families and communities see the role of girls in society, laying the groundwork for changes in policies and institutions.

“Their work can be an inspiration and a source of ideas on how to do things differently and better,” he says.

But it takes time.

For girls like Anna, learning and teaching others is the best form of activism. She’s now in her last year of high school, but her work goes beyond the classroom. She also chairs her school’s girls’ club, where she mentors younger students.

Whenever a girl comes to her for advice, Anna says she encourages them to work hard, be confident and achieve their goals: “I try my best to support them. My story seems to have inspired them to act.”