Connie Britton, four-time Emmy-nominated actress and member of The ONE Campaign, wore a sweater embroidered with the words “poverty is sexist” to the 2018 Golden Globe awards to bring awareness to the fact that inequality is far worse for girls and women in the world’s poorest countries. In low-income countries, poverty is a defining factor of women’s lives and subsequently of their communities and nations; girls are denied an education and women have fewer opportunities to escape the entrenched effects of poverty. In other words: Poverty is sexist.
Education is one of the most powerful tools in the fight against extreme poverty; there is plenty of evidence that shows educated countries are healthier, wealthier, and more stable. Britton and The ONE Campaign are urging the United States and global leaders to make a historic investment in girls’ education when they meet in a few weeks in Senegal for the financing conference of the Global Partnership for Education.