The Future Is Most Definitely Female

From being the voice against climate change to a game developer helping others understand mental illness and sexual abuse, these five young women prove that no matter your age, you can make a difference.

- Charis Torrance

You’d be forgiven for feeling a bit despondent these days. Between living in a world where we still have to fight for basic women’s rights to the rising threat that coal has on the very air we breathe (and that’s just at home… let’s not even get started on the chaos across the border and seas), things haven’t exactly been rosy. But as hard as things seem right now, don’t lose hope just yet. Despite their age, these young people are already making a difference in the world (or even just their ’hoods) and we’re taking notes. For some much-needed inspiration, keep reading…

STANDING TALL IN A SEA OF DENIAL

YOLA MGOGWANA

Eleven-year-old Yola Mgogwana carries the weight of the world on her shoulders. As an outspoken climate change activist, she can see the effect we have had on the planet, and she’s not happy about it. ‘Our weather is not normal – one day it is hot, the next day it’s raining heavily. It’s a huge problem for farmers, and floods wash away houses, leaving poor families without homes.’

The learner from Yomelela Primary School in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, began her crusade in January this year when she joined the Eco Warriors, an environmental club led by Earthchild Project Environmental Coordinator, Xoli Fuyani. ‘Ms Xoli told us Mother Earth is on fire and our future is in crisis,’ she recalls. ‘I was angry that in my 11 years of existence, no one – not even my teachers – told me about this crisis. That made me determined to act.’

Since then, she has been featured in news stories around the globe, and at the first Global Climate Strike on 15 March she stood on the steps of Parliament in front of 2000 of her fellow learners to deliver a powerful message: ‘We are the future. It starts with us.’