Tanya Burr is one of the most popular female UK YouTubers, most recognised for her beauty and lifestyle videos. But what most people aren’t aware of (if they aren’t an avid viewer) is that she runs a campaign called Time For Girls.
Time For Girls is Tanya’s project as part of her role as an ambassador for Global Goals, a United Nations initiative which was launched back in September 2015 aiming to end poverty, fix climate change and tackle inequalities. There are currently 17 goals, with a different spokesperson for each one. Tanya has chosen to support goal number five, gender equality, which is where Time For Girls was born.
Time For Girls is a project for everyone – regardless of their gender identity – to come together to make the world a more equal and inclusive place.
“I wanted to create a place on the internet where we could raise awareness and take action for a variety of issues related to gender equality,” says Tanya. “I’ll be focusing on us learning together as knowledge and awareness really are so powerful. The more we all stand up for what we believe in, the more seriously our politicians have to take these issues. By taking these issues more seriously I mean they will implement laws and make decisions that directly impact the lives of the women and girls living in their country.”
Talking about inequalities, Tanya says: If women and men had equal wages and job opportunities, there would be no more global poverty – countries lose over $92 billion per year by failing to educate girls and boys equally. If we help girls, the rest of the world will benefit too. For example, if every Ethiopian girl finished school it would add almost $4 billion to the countries economy, shocking right? It all starts with girls, if we take action now, then we can help to give girls the opportunities that will allow them to grow up to be the best women they can be. Empowering girls and women brings everyone closer to human rights for all. Knowledge is power and I want us to start a conversation and learn about these issues together to shine a light on inequality.”
Burr recently visited Johannesburg in South Africa with ONE campaign – an international charity which focuses on ending extreme poverty – to visit some projects and learn more about issues which affect women and girls in South Africa. Tanya vlogged and blogged the experience and shared with her international base of viewers.
Tanya is the perfect icon to run a project in partnership with Global Goals and the United Nations. With her social media platforms totalling up to around 5 million follows alongside 305 million Youtube subscribers, she has the perfect audience to use her platform to raise awareness of global issues and encourage her followers to take part and help make a change.
To start helping make a difference, Tanya urges people to do the following:
“Step 1 – visit this website and pick one of the different actions on offer
“Step 2 – once you’ve taken action for The Global Goals, make sure you post about it on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #TimeForGirls. I can’t wait to see how many of you get involved.
“Step 3 – feel happy and proud of yourself that you are making a difference”
For more information about Tanya’s project, click here and here for to read her blog updates.
