Rose alongside Oprah, Elton John, Tina Fey, Bono and other prominent figures signed the letter which highlights how inequality affects the world’s female population.
They made the call on Tuesday in London in an open letter, by the 80 plus signatories, published on the eve of International Women’s Day.
Elton John said: “Three out of every four adolescents in Africa who contract HIV are girls, and on average, women in sub-Saharan Africa who contract HIV will do so five to seven years earlier than men. It’s heartbreaking.
“We have the chance to stop HIV/AIDS in our lifetime, and we need to raise our voices now to make sure it happens.”
The letter in full:
Dear World Leaders,
Nowhere on earth do women have as many opportunities as men. Nowhere.
While the debate around this truth rages everywhere, girls and women living in extreme poverty – those often hit hardest by the injustice of gender inequality – have been left out of the conversation.
This must change. The fight for gender equity is global.
Some 62 million girls are denied the right to education. Half a billion women can’t read. 155 countries still have laws that discriminate against women.
Last year, you signed up to end extreme poverty, and because poverty is sexist, you promised to tackle the gender inequality that keeps people poor.
This year, there are a series of historic opportunities to test your commitment and to make meaningful progress by delivering:
• Funding in 2016 at the Nutrition for Growth and Global Fund Summits to help girls and women fight HIV and malnutrition, because it is an outrage that girls account for 74% of all new HIV infections among adolescents in Africa and 40% of women on the continent suffer from anaemia which results in 20% of maternal deaths
• Policies which support female economic empowerment: access to electricity, connectivity, education and justice, so girls and women have the right to own property, start a business and decide when and whether to marry
• Better data on the girls and women we can’t see, don’t know exist and therefore can’t yet deliver for.
International Women’s Day must be about advancing girls and women everywhere.
Signed:
Ali Hewson, Founder, Edun and Nude
Alyse Nelson, President & CEO, Vital Voices Global Partnership
Aminatou Sow, Digital Strategist, Co-Host, Call Your Girlfriend podcast
Amy Poehler, Producer, Actor and Co-Founder of Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls
Andrew Zimmern, Chef
Andrew Hozier-Byrne, Musician
Angelique Kidjo, Grammy Award-Winning Artist and Activist
Ann Friedman, Columnist, New York Magazine, Co-Host, Call Your Girlfriend podcast
Anna Loos, Actress
Anne V, Model
Anne-Marie Slaughter, President & CEO, New America
Arianna Huffington, Co-Founder, President and Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post Media Group
Arielle T, Singer and Activist
Asa, Singer, Songwriter and Musician
Ashley Judd
Bobby Shriver, Co-Founder, ONE and (RED)
Bono, Lead singer, U2 and Co-Founder of ONE and (RED)
Caitlin Moran, Journalist, Broadcaster and Author
Carey Lowell, Artist and Actress
Carolin Kebekus, Comedian
Charlize Theron, Founder of Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project and UN Messenger of Peace
Cindi Leive, Editor-in-Chief, Glamour
Colin Farrell, Actor
Condoleezza Rice, Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution, Founding partner of RiceHadleyGates, LLC
Connie Britton, Emmy-Nominated Actress
D’Banj, Singer and Activist
Danai Gurira, Actor and Award-Winning Playwright
Derreck Kayongo, CEO, National Center for Civil and Human Rights
Elsie Kanza, Head of Africa, Member of Executive Committee, Africa World Economic Forum
Sir Elton John, Founder, The Elton John AIDS Foundation
Emma Freud, Writer and Broadcaster
Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director, World Food Programme
Femi Kuti, Musician
Gabriela, African Pop Star
Helen Clark, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme
Helene Gayle, CEO, McKinsey Social Initiative
Jeff Skoll, Social Entrepreneur, Founder & Chairman of the Skoll Foundation, Participant Media, Skoll Global Threats Fund, and Capricorn Investment Group
Jennifer Lopez
Jessie J
John Green, Author and YouTuber
Jude Kelly CBE
Judith Sephuma, South African Musician, Jazz and Gospel Artist
Kakenya Ntaiya, Founder & President, Kakenya Center for Excellence
Karen Kornbluh, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Kathy Calvin, President & Chief Executive Officer, United Nations Foundation
Katja Iversen, CEO, Women Deliver
Laura Ling, Correspondent, Discovery Digital Networks
Lauren Bush Lauren, CEO & Co-Founder of FEED Projects
Lea DeLaria
Lilly Singh, Comedian, Writer and YouTuber
Lonnie Ali, Wife of Muhammad Ali and Co-Founder of The Muhammad Ali Center
Luvvie Ajayi, Writer, Digital Strategist and Executive Director, The Red Pump Project
Mabel van Oranje, Initiator & Chair, Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage
Maria Shriver, Award-Winning Journalist and Founder of Shriver Media
Marian Salzman, CEO, Havas PR
Mary J Blige, Artist and Activist
Melinda Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Meryl Streep
Michele Sullivan, President, Caterpillar Foundation
Muhammad Ali, 3X World Heavyweight Champion and Global Humanitarian
Oprah Winfrey, Chairman & CEO, Oprah Media Group
Padma Lakshmi, Author and Host of Top Chef
Patricia Arquette, Actor and Activist
Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever
Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women
Rea Garvey, Musician
Robert Redford, Actor, Director and Environmental Activist
Rocky Dawuni, Grammy-Nominated International Music Star and Humanitarian Activist
Ruby Rose, Actress
Sarah Degnan Kambou, President, International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)
Sean Parker, President of the Parker Foundation
Selmor Mtukudzi, Zimbabwean Musician
Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook
Sheryl WuDunn, Co-Author, Half the Sky and A Path Appears
Shonda Rhimes, Creator & CEO, Shondaland
Tété, Singer and Songwriter
Thandie Newton, Actress
Tina Fey, Writer, Actress and Producer
Tina Brown, Founder & CEO, Tina Brown Live Media and Women in the World
Vanessa Mdee, Afro Pop Musician
Victoria Kimani, African Pop Artiste
Yemi Alade, International Award Winner “MAMA AFRICA”
