The Wa’ed network launched with a series of priority areas on which girls want to take action.

Gender-based violence and discrimination

Girls across the region endure cultural norms and legal structures that tolerate and perpetuate violence against them. This environment puts many formal and informal restrictions on girls: the way they dress, their choices, education and movement. Girls want to break silences on all forms of discrimination based on their gender, and break silence on sexual harassment, rape, and all forms of sexual abuse - and end the blame they face for much of what they suffer.

Traditional gender roles within the family

In many countries in the region, laws enforce formal hierarchies that place young women and girls as inferiors within the family. This has untold impacts on girls, affecting their confidence, their sense of self and personal value. In material terms it also affects decisions about girls’ futures - their access to education, their economic and social participation.

Safe spaces for girls

The adolescent girls in our work reported that they lacked spaces in which they felt safe - especially girls affected by conflict and occupation. These girls report that violence becomes internalized into the community - from domestic violence in the home to bullying in the playground. Violence and discrimination also follow from society into girls’ lives online. Bullying and harassment over the Internet and social media are viciously gendered. The girls wanted a place where they felt they could express themselves, explore their interests, and connect with others.

Girls’ rights

The girls of the network spoke so much of rights that are infringed upon or not guaranteed: the right to education, right to marriage, right to choose, right to health, right to play, right to share in the public sphere, right to move, and the ability to express and practice their rights. They are determined for modern laws that offer them protection from violence, laws that punish aggressors rather than blaming victims, and laws that guarantee freedom from discrimination, and full access to opportunities.