Ten years ago today, TYTW was founded on the first International Day of the Girl Child. To reflect on the brutal realities of the past decade for girls, TYTW is holding a private exhibition with the US State Department, titled “Girls on the Brink: Holding on to Fragile Futures.” This powerful multimedia exhibition, which will travel and open to the public at a later date, highlights the struggles that girls are currently facing globally and draws awareness to the dramatic rollbacks of girls’ rights that have taken place over the last several years. ⁠ ⁠ Showcasing original works by predominantly female and non-binary visual journalists, the exhibition explores issues such as child marriage, conflict, reproductive rights, gender-based violence, human trafficking, racial injustice and climate change, and how they have a critical and devastating impact on the health and wellbeing of young girls around the world. ⁠ ⁠ Irene, 15, is one of the millions of girls whose lives were forever altered as a result of Covid-19. In this image, Irene takes her baby to be examined at a local hospital in Kacheliba in North Pokot sub county, Kenya. She stands alongside other young teen mothers, all of whom became pregnant during pandemic school closures. ⁠ ⁠ Reports of gender-based violence in the country increased by 92% between January and June 2020 (Cabinet Secretary of Kenya), compared to the same timeframe in 2019, with rape and sexual assault among the most common reports. Complications arising from pregnancy and childbirth, particularly among FGM survivors, are a leading cause of death among adolescent girls in developing countries, and the risk of maternal mortality is five times higher for girls under 15 years of age (World Health Organization). Photo by Stephanie Sinclair, 2021, who was able to make this image with support from the National Geographic Society. ⁠ ⁠ #DOTG #DayoftheGirl #InternationalDayoftheGirlChild #letgirlslearn #stopGBV #endchildmarriagenow