Intel backs movie on girls’ education, to work on policy issues

• Intel and 10x10 film ‘Girls Rising’ features nine tales of inspiration and hope about girls’ education
• To provide decision makers in developing countries with policy solutions to expand gender equity in education

THERE was a media screening of Girl Rising, a feature film about the power of education to change a girl and in turn the world, which was borne out of a strategic partnership between Intel Corporation and 10x10, together with distribution partner CNN Films.
 
The media screening of Girl Rising was held in conjunction with the global Women Deliver 2013 conference that was held earlier this week in Kuala Lumpur, hosting a total of 4,000 participants from 150 countries who discussed the health and well-being of girls and women.
 
The movie features nine tales of inspiration and hope with characters voiced by Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchette, Selena Gomez and other A-list actors. It also features original music from Academy Award winner Rachel Portman, in collaboration with Hans Zimmer.
 
“Through this film, we've seen the inspiring transformation that can occur when girls are empowered with education,” said Loo Cheng Cheng, employee communications director at Intel Malaysia.
 
“Here in Asia and around the world, Intel is taking the vital message of Girl Rising into action by working with 10x10 and policymakers to improve gender equity in education. When the lives of girls are transformed, so are those of everyone they touch,” Loo said.
 
The media screening of Girl Rising was followed by a panel session featuring Holly Gordon, 10x10 executive director; Maureen Greenwood Basken, executive director of Women, Girls & Population at the United Nations Foundation; Dr Feven Tassew, the sexual and reproductive health programme coordinator for CARE Ethiopia; and Ranjeetha Sivajanam, Teach for Malaysia Fellow for 2012.
 
“By sharing the personal stories of these nine girls, Girl Rising illustrates just how important education is in the movement to empower women and girls,” said Gordon.
 
“In an extension of our partnership with Intel, we are now working to provide decision makers in developing countries with scalable policy solutions to expand gender equity in education. This marks the next step in our commitment to change both minds and policy to positively impact girls’ lives,” she said.
 
According to the Council on Foreign Relations report ‘What Works in Girls’ Education,’ each year of secondary schooling increases a girl’s future wages by 10% to 20%. At the national level, increasing the share of women with secondary education by just 1% increases a country’s annual GDP (gross domestic product) by an average of 0.3%.
 
Yet studies from the United Nations and International Labour Organisation show that in 2009, girls accounted for 53% of all out-of-school children and 87 million women were unemployed in 2010, up from 76 million in 2007.
 
Together, Intel and 10x10 will develop and host gender equity and education policy workshops, and develop regional policy frameworks based on key gender needs. The workshops will help governments think deeply about issues of gender equity as they develop national policy plans for broader education transformation.
 
Through the policy workshops, Intel and 10x10 will help leaders determine how to utilise technology to facilitate gender equity across school policy, curriculum and assessment, teacher development, and research and evaluation.
 
These efforts will build on Intel’s existing policy framework, which leverages education policy and information and communications technologies (ICTs) to create mechanisms for empowering girls and achieving gender equity in education at scale, Intel said in a statement.
 
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