I think gender inequality is a serious problem — a recent State of Youth survey shows 93% of my peers agree.

(Courtesy of Dessire Garcia)

Here’s how you can help raise awareness so governments respond to our shared concerns.

In Mexico, there are 10 femicides every day and the majority of gender-based violence crimes remain unreported. As a college student, I want to feel safe while taking class and while leaving for home. But it’s impossible when my home state of Nuevo León is among the most dangerous places in the country for women. 

This year, women across Mexico decided we had enough. An increase in femicide rates and the publicized murder of a young woman named Ingrid Escamilla inspired women across the country into action. On International Women’s Day on March 8, thousands of women from every city in the country marched demanding justice for our missing or dead sisters. The next day, we took to the streets, disappearing from our classes and jobs in a nationwide protest called “A day without us.” We wanted to show the government what a day without 50% of their workforce would look like.

(Courtesy of Mariann Avila)

We need real policy change but despite our efforts, our government is not listening to its youth population — and this is not just an issue in Mexico. Around the world, young people are underrepresented in every decision-making table. Nearly half of the global population is under 24 years old, yet less than 2% of parliamentarians are in their 20s. This is likely because in one-third of all countries, eligibility for national parliament starts at 25 years old.

I want to make sure young people have a seat at the table. That’s why I joined State of Youth, a unique platform created by the organization KidsRights and connected by Facebook that offers students the opportunity to learn about and take action on the issues that matter to them.

Every three months, the other Youth Board Members and I select an issue for our citizens to focus on during that quarter. Earlier this year, we chose gender equality, a topic close to my heart because of my home country’s issues around gender-based violence. We wanted to find out what State of Youth citizens around the world think about gender equality and how we can achieve it. We launched a preferendum, a type of survey, to learn more.

Thousands of young people from 85 countries participated in the preferendum. 93% of survey takers said gender inequality is a serious problem. Yet, current projections estimate it will take 99.5 years to achieve full equality between women and men at the current rate of change and governments are failing to take the issue seriously. 84% of our citizens said that they can contribute to improving gender equality and they’ve committed to doing so. They offered solutions to tackle this issue, including implementing stricter laws to eradicate sexual violence and abuse, eliminating gender differences in education between boys and girls and ensuring equal representation of women in politics. They also agreed that governments are essential in achieving gender equality and we must demand that they do more. 

State of Youth plans to share the preferendum outcomes through social media to raise awareness, but we need your help! Go to @stateofyouth and to see the data we have gathered and share it across your social platforms. You can help us show governments and organizations around the world that this generation is not going to just watch. We will grab a seat at the table.