Students coordinated a screening of the film Girl Rising as one of the final National Public Health Week mini-grant events last month. The film tells the stories of nine girls growing up in developing countries and the obstacles that they face.
The event was organized by Gayatri Malhotra, a first-year in the MPH program with a track in global health epidemiology and disease control. About 30 graduate students, professors and undergraduates came to the event and enjoyed Indian food that accompanied the screening. Malhotra chose this project because “education is one realm in a society that has the promise to change a girl’s future," she said. "When I saw the Girl Rising film for the first time, I felt the urge to take action and transform the perception of adolescent girls.”
Her experiences in India and the U.S. have also shown her that education is key to undo gender bias and alleviate girls from poverty. “A girl with courage is a revolution,” she said.
After the screening, Malhotra spoke about takeaways from the film as well as the mission of the Girl Rising organization, which formed after the film's release to implement programming and local action in developing countries in order to empower and educate girls.
Earlier this year a group of current MPH students and DrPH graduates, led by Associate Professor Amita Vyas, traveled to India to take part in the Girl Rising initiative. They worked on creating a school curriculum that inspires girls to stay in school and strives to create equality by showing boys that girls can achieve the same things that they can.