Editor’s Note: On September 21, 2024, in New York City, more than 50 young women from around the world – including the youngest Nobel Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai – gathered to take United Nations member states to task for failing to prioritize girls and young women in the planning and content of the upcoming Summit of the Future. 

At a demonstration in front of the UN, surrounded by life-size cutouts of world leaders dressed ironically as youthful “girl experts”, the activists delivered a strong message: world leaders aren’t the experts on what girls want and need for their futures – girls are. 

The group is backed by an informal coalition of girl-centered non-profit organizations, institutions, networks, and funds who worked to synthesize the well-documented policy, programming, and resourcing demands of girls at WhatGirlsWant.com

Allison Choong, a Girls Advisory Council Member and alumna of the Girls Activist Fellowship, spoke at the demonstration:

Apa khabar, my name is Allison Choong, and I'm a girl activist from Penang, Malaysia. I’m here representing not only girls in Malaysia, or southeast asia, or the girls here, but also girls from all around the world to emphasize how girls are tired of being an afterthought for world leaders. 

The demand that resonates most with me is freedom from violence. In Malaysia, sexual violence is at an all time high, marital rape is legal, and too many loopholes exist for child marriage. Let that sink in. Every girl deserves the right to feel safe in their communities. And this starts by having them at the front of the conversation and decision-making. If any leaders are listening, I want you to know that all girls not only deserve a seat at the table, but an amplifying microphone as well. Not like this one, one that's loud. I’m a girl and I know I want!

I’m a girl and I know what I want!

I’m a girl and I know what I want!