We made it a priority because we met with a number of girls from around the world who worked through Plan Canada on a project called “Because I'm a Girl”. They talked about some of the challenges they face, whether it's forced marriages, access to education, access to health care, female genital mutilation. They said these are issues they face as girls, not as women. When we talked about International Women's Day, their clear and honest response was that they don't connect with that and they want to talk about things at school that affect them. It occurred to me that this was a great idea. They asked if Canada would champion this resolution through the United Nations, and we did.
It was a lot of work, but we got a great reception from a number of countries, particularly Turkey and Peru, which came on very early to help champion this through the United Nations. We ended up with 110 co-sponsoring countries.
Every country will celebrate this in a different way, but we've met with a number of countries that are going to be focusing their celebration on challenging issues for girls, particularly some controversial issues, like forced marriage. It allows governments themselves, and advocates within those governments, to champion some of these issues that are a little more difficult to tackle.
Again, if girls know their rights at a very young age, they're more willing to exercise them. We think it's a great initiative and we're happy to have championed it.