This October, thousands of grown men and women are wearing school dresses to work, play, and everywhere in between! What is this madness? A weird new fashion trend? An early Halloween celebration perhaps?
No, it’s part of Australian charity One Girl’s Do It In A Dress campaign! The idea behind the campaign is simple: wear a school dress, do a challenge in October, raise $300 and educate a girl in Africa. Sounds easy enough… but WHY should you participate? Here are 5 reasons!
1. 66 million girls around the world aren’t in school, simply because they were born a girl. But you can change that!
That’s a hard statistic to wrap your mind around – what does 66 million girls even look like? I mean, what does 1 million even look like? Here’s another chilling stat for you: A girl in Sierra Leone, West Africa is more likely to be sexually assaulted than she is to attend high school. Sierra Leone is where One Girl works to educate and empower girls – and Do It In A Dress raises money for them to reach more girls! By wearing a school dress you’re helping give some of these 66 million girls the chance to go to school.
2. Do It In A Dress is easy – and fun!
The novelty of a grown woman wearing a school dress is enough to turn heads, and get people to ask you what on earth you’re wearing. It’s a great way to start important conversations about the issue of girls’ education, and why education is so important. No need to pour a bucket of ice on your head for this campaign!
3. You can do anything – as long as you do it in a dress!
We’ve had people take on the most extreme and insane challenges in school dresses – we’ve had people skydive, go surfing, trek the Himalayas, go bungee jumping and more! But we’ve also had people set personal and unique challenges to suit them – run marathons, film a dance video, wear a dress every day for a month – or just simply go to work in a dress. Whatever you love doing – do that – and do it in a dress!
4. Why a school dress?
The school dress gets attention, and is an awesome conversation starter – but it’s more than that. While we might see the gingham print as a throwback to our old primary school days, for the millions of girls around the world denied an education – it’s a symbol of hope, of potential, of change. A school dress brings opportunity. A school dress means choices. A school dress means education. And that’s why we’re building our revolution with a school dress.
5. You can Do It In A Dress whenever you want!
While our main campaign month is in October, Do It In A Dress is a movement, not an event. You can sign up at www.doitinadress.com, create a team, get your workplace, community group, friends and family involved, and raise money to give girls access to education. And we’d love you to join us!
Now all that’s left to do is sign up! Go to www.doitinadress.com to find out more and join us!
Wear a school dress. Change the world.
Featured image courtesy of One Girl. Content courtesy of Larissa Ocampo from One Girl.
Mikayla Maricic
Mikayla is an Ambassador for One Girl, a charity changing the lives one girl at a time. For the past two years, she has developed an extraordinary passion for giving women equal access to education in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Mikayla says, “One Girl captivated me from the first time I heard about it. Now … knowing how I could make a difference, I got on board, plus it looked like so much fun and yet it was making an extraordinary impact not only to girls but their entire families and community!” Follow her via www.doitinadress.com/mikayla-maricic