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
Beautiful, and so very important! Thank you for writing and sharing this today. You have an amazing poetic voice. I wanted to like or reblog this post, and when I had trouble, thanks to the latest IOS update, I pasted it into my own blog with a link to yours. http://Www.shielagh.wordprss.com.
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Oy. WordPress.
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Is it fixed? Should be…
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Still can’t do certain things with WordPress on my iPad, only iPhone. I’m working with WP tech support to resolve it.
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Thank you my friend. Let me know if the reblogging went through. It should have!
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It takes courage to speak out- to tell the truth and not live in fear and secrecy. But the truth will set us free.
Thank you Naama.
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Thank you Chaya. May we all be heard.
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YES!!!!!
Adele Ryan McDowell, Ph.D.
http://AdeleRyanMcDowell.com
http://AdeleandthePenguin.com
armcdowell@aol.com
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Thank you, dear Adele….
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