36 Influential Women Tell World Leaders: Poverty Is Sexist

Some of the world's most prominent and credible female voices -- including Beyoncé, Meryl Streep, Lady Gaga, Sheryl Sandberg, Charlize Theron, and Angelique Kidjo -- have a VERY important message about the girls and women of the world. ONE asked a group of women business leaders, artists and activists to join us to send a message to two world leaders who could help put the world on track to end extreme poverty, by empowering girls and women everywhere. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and South Africa's Minister of Health Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma host key summits this June, which could set us on a path to smart new Global Goals that will can unleash girls and women's true potential. These two politicians will hear direct from this great group of influential women -- and ONE members around that world -- that the time for girls and women is now. Read their letter, then join ONE and take action for girls and women: Dear Chancellor Merkel and Chairwoman Dlamini-Zuma, Thank you for your leadership and the example you offer all girls and women. In June this year you will both chair key summits at which you have placed women's empowerment on the agenda -- one in Germany, one in South Africa. These meetings are just before the historic global summit on how to finance the new Sustainable Development Goals in Addis Ababa, which will be followed by the unveiling of these goals in New York in September. The timing is such that if your summits reach the right agreements, great financing and momentum around girls and women's empowerment can be placed at the heart of the new global goals. That in turn will frame how global policies are decided, and trillions of dollars spent, over the next 15 years. For the girl who can't go to a decent primary or secondary school or access healthcare, or who is forced to marry while still a child; for the mothers threatened with death when they give life and who aren't allowed to decide when to have their next child; for the women who can't own or inherit the land she farms, nor open a bank account, own a phone, access electricity or the legal system; for the infant girl who doesn't legally exist because her birth wasn't registered and the government hasn't the capacity to collect data on her or her village; for the women and girls who can't take those who are violent towards them to court nor access justice -- let's make sure they all count. Put simply, poverty is sexist, and we won't end it unless we face up to the fact that girls and women get a raw deal, and until leaders and citizens around the world work together for real change. Because when we deliver for girls and women, we deliver for everyone. Realizing women's rights helps deliver everyone's rights. If we get this right, we could help lift every girl and woman out of poverty by 2030 -- and by doing so we will lift everyone. Get this wrong and extreme poverty, inequality and instability might spread in the most vulnerable regions, impacting all our futures. The choice is obvious and we know where you stand personally. But the course you set as leaders in this historic year will be critical in either creating momentum or slowing it down. In 2015 let's all have the courage to demand better and follow through with the resources and policies that it will take to end extreme poverty by 2030. Millions of girls and women around the world will applaud your decisiveness -- and will help ensure the promises made this year are truly kept into the future. Signed: Ali Hewson, Founder, Edun and Nude Angelique Kidjo, Singer, Songwriter and Activist Angellah Kairuki, Member of Parliament (Tanzania) Ann Cairns, President, International Markets, MasterCard Arianna Huffington, Chair, President, and Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post Media Group Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Entertainer and Entrepreneur Charlize Theron, Actress, UN Messenger of Peace, Founder of Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project Christy Turlington Burns, Founder, Every Mother Counts Cindi Leive, Editor-in-Chief, Glamour Magazine Danai Gurira, Actress, Playwright and Activist Gesine Schwan, Professor and Former Presidential Candidate Helene Gayle, President and CEO, CARE Jude Kelly, CBE, Artistic Director, Southbank Centre Jutta Allmendinger, Professor and Ph.D., President of the Wissenschaftszentrum Karen Kornbluh, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations* Karen Ruimy, Musician, Performer and Author Lady Gaga, Singer and Songwriter Lauren Bush Lauren, Founder and CEO, FEED Mabel van Oranje, Initiator and Chair, Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage Dr. Maria Furtwängler, Actress and Physician Marian Salzman, CEO, Havas PR Mariella Frostrup, Journalist and Cofounder of GREAT Initiative Meryl Streep Michele Sullivan, President and Director of Corporate Social Innovation, The Caterpillar Foundation Mimi Alemayehou, Development Finance Executive Monica Musonda, CEO and Founder of Java Foods (Zambia) Mpule Kwelagobe, Activist Naisula Lesuuda, Senator (Kenya) Rita Wilson, Actress, Producer and Singer Rosamund Pike, Actress Sabine Christiansen, Journalist, Producer and UNICEF-Ambassador Sarah Silverman, Comedian, Actress and Activist Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook Sheryl WuDunn, Banker and Author Susan Shabangu, Minister of Women's Affairs (South Africa) Yvonne Chaka Chaka, President of the Princess of Africa Foundation, Activist and Singer Stand with girls and women everywhere