More than 250 girls around the world are taking over the jobs of presidents, mayors, head teachers and business leaders in a 24-hour stunt to call for greater gender equality.
A 17-year-old girl is running the UN’s Geneva office, a 13-year-old is chief of police in India and Ireland has its first 18-year-old female mayor, as part of the global action for the International Day of the Girl Child today.
Teenagers are today carrying out the roles of the Vice President of European Commission, The President of Nepal, The Spanish Congress, several Canadian ministries, 11 Paraguayan ministries, The Minister for Human Rights in Pakistan, numerous UN departments and many more.
They are also swapping jobs with the heads of police forces, schools and Nickleodeon and MSNBC in the US.
Étáin Sweeney Keogh, an 18-year-old from, Leitrim, Ireland will be “taking over” the lord mayor of Dublin’s office, shadowing a senator in the country’s Seanad and opening a national Irish radio show according to the Irish Times.
The global action aims to put girls in positions where they are under-represented, from taking over a national parliament to becoming the honorary head of a country’s military.
It is being run by the charity Plan International and the girls’ work has already begun to be shared with the hashtag #GirlsTakeover.
Globally, 22% of parliamentarians and 17% of government ministers are women, according to Alex Munive, Plan’s global advisor for girls’ rights.
In some cases - such as that of 17-year-old Jennie, who is acting as the Director of the UN in Geneva - the girls will adopt the role for the day, and in others they will hold parliamentary debates in the stead of politicians, or chair meetings for teachers and police officers.