Once upon a time, I was a girl in a small town. I had a roof over my head, meals on the table, and caring and supportive parents. Yet my environment taught me that girls could cheer on teams but not play sports ourselves, could read and write but could not excel in math and science, and could go to school but not aspire to careers beyond motherhood, marriage, nursing, and teaching. My parents and community believed otherwise, and so did I. I believed then and continue to believe now that the world would be better with girls leading—from politics to medicine to agriculture to global goal-setting.
 

In many communities today, it is hard to be a girl and to strive beyond the “place” decided for her. This can be especially true in rural areas that may be more traditional. The presumption often is that a girl will drop out of school as soon as she finds a husband, have many children, and be subject to work from dawn until midnight until she is too old to continue. However, girls are leading despite the convictions of some in their communities. Leaders like Malala Yousafzai show the world the power of a girl. And there are millions of Malalas leading around the world, as girls and as women. They are in houses of parliament, they are chiefs, they lead in classrooms, laboratories, sports fields and in their homes. They are leading already, and millions of parents, teachers, and political leaders are supporting them.

Since I chaired the 2011 report Girls Grow: A Vital Force in Rural Economies, progress has been made in many areas of girls’ lives and has stalled in others. Revisiting this topic, it became clear that not everyone sees the well-being, development, and cultivation of leadership among rural girls as critical. Addressing the challenges of girls, rural and urban, may seem the natural responsibility of education or health professionals. It may not seem the obvious responsibility of the agriculture and mining sectors or of conservation groups, who may otherwise invest in rural communities and therefore have an impact on rural girls’ lives. For that reason, I decided to invite voices from a range of geographies, experiences, and sectors to examine and reveal the relationship between rural girls and the world around them. I firmly believe that we cannot have progress on global goals without direct progress for girls in rural areas who so often lag behind their urban peers and boys in their communities. They merit direct attention as an important population on their own rather than to only be grouped with women, with “children,” or as a component of rural households.
 

This conviction that investing in girls is the most productive commitment one can make to improve the world came to me one day when I was about halfway through my 10-year term as executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme. I saw that women were the key to nourishing communities; they did everything in their power to enable their family to thrive. Making sure girls were educated and empowered as adults was the key to ensuring they were able to pursue opportunities themselves and continue this cycle of investment in others.
 

Later, as I became involved in agricultural development and promoting policies to help improve farmers’ lives, I frequently encountered rural girls and women and the challenges they faced. Rural girls and women are highly represented in low- or no-wage agricultural work; they juggle farming with raising children, fetching water and firewood, taking care of households, and providing support for families while also attending school, going to market, or holding other jobs. The labor burden of rural women exceeds that of men in low-income countries, and their work is very often unpaid.¹ The problem starts when they are girls. Data shows that girls work more hours than boys and that the volume of work gets worse with age. By the time girls reach 10 years old they are working 50 percent more than their male peers. That’s 120 million more hours each day worked by girls.²
 

In my mind, girls and rural economies became synonymous. We cannot achieve significant improvements for one without the other.
 

If every girl in the world had a basic education, the world would change. But as the authors of these essays point out, we are not there yet. The girls still missing this opportunity are more often in rural areas. Educated girls marry later, have fewer children,³ have better health outcomes for themselves and their children,⁴ are less likely to contract HIV/AIDS,⁵ are more likely to send their children to school,⁶ are more productive farmers,⁷ earn more income, are more involved in leadership roles in communities, better understand their legal rights, and positively impact the national economy.⁸  
 

Realizing all of these benefits requires a lifecycle approach. As a global community, we cannot expect to focus solely on one time frame of a girl’s life, however impactful, to change the landscape entirely. The effects of gender inequality are cumulative. That is why this report’s recommendations are organized by age. 
 

The authors of Girls Leading share data and stories of personal struggle and triumph as well as reasons for stalled progress and solutions for action. They are a chorus of varied voices painting a picture of why action for rural girls is urgently needed.
 

Now we would like to engage you. Girls, boys, men, and women. Politicians. Business leaders. Academics. Scientists. Agricultural professionals. Community leaders. Everyone.
 

How do you see rural girls leading, and who is leading alongside them? What is getting in the way, and what are the stories you can share about how barriers are being broken? Share them with us using #GirlsLeading.
 

Educating and supporting girls to be healthy and empowered in rural communities is a solution to so many challenges—local and global, immediate and long-term. It’s well beyond time to see and act on it so girls can lead the way.