Speak up for every girl.

For every woman, child.

For those who never had a say

Or book, or pen in hand.

Speak up for every girl

Who was shut up from choice

For every girl whose culture robbed

From future full of hope.

Speak up for girls who have no school

Who’re married before time,

Who men control with fear and pain

In violence, man-prowl, crime.

Speak up for every woman, child,

Trafficked, sold off, bound

For every one who’d been demeaned

Silenced, pushed around.

Speak up for girls who do not earn

Fair wages for fair work

Speak up for giving girls a voice

For futures they can mold.

Speak up so no more men teach boys

That women can be groped.

Speak up so no more women believe

Such men cannot be stopped.

Speak up for every girl who thinks

No one will care to know

Who worries rape will be about

Her face, her clothes, her fault.

Speak up so every girl

Can have a safe return.

From classrooms, boardrooms, wells.

So every child is free to be

To write, to talk, to tell.

Speak up for women everywhere

From girlhood throughout life

For mothers, sisters, neighbors, wives.

Speak up.

Speak up.

Speak up.

Malala Yousafzai