Do It In A Dress is a campaign which aims to raise money for girls education, in particular, for girls in Sierra Leone in West Africa. We all know that education is important for everyone, but currently there is still a massive discrepancy between access to education between boys and girls.
In Sierra Leone:
Only 15% of girls reach secondary school
The female literacy rate in youth (ages 15-24) is only 52.1%, whereas in males it is 70.5%
Some of the main underlying reasons for this massive disparity is teenage pregnancy, which is among one of the highest rates in the world, and this contributes to high dropout rates of girls in secondary school. Child marriage, gender-based violence and cultural/religious bias are other important contributing factors to these shocking statistics.
Want to help?
Last year at IH, we had a really successful Do It In A Dress Team, and this year we’re hoping to continue the tradition! Here’s what you’ll have to do:
- Challenge: wear a school dress every day for a week between the 20th-27th of October. You can wear your own, buy one from the official website, or if you’re an international student or male, ask around and see if someone can lend you one for a week (promise them you’ll wash it before you return it though!)
- During the week, raise as much awareness and money as you can by being open and ready to discuss the reason you have decided to Do It In A Dress. $300 is the cost to give one girl in Sierra Leone access to education, and this is the goal for the team for the week!
Remember, education is empowering. Let’s use the opportunity we have been given to help change the life of a girl in Sierra Leone!
