Day of the Girl: giving girls a voice

“Every three seconds, another girl becomes a child bride.”

11 October marks the first ever International Day of the Girl Child: a chance to amplify the voice of millions of girls everywhere being married off before the age of 18. Join Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu in celebrating Day of the Girl. Help us end child marriage.

Traditions are man-made, they can be changed

In a video from Half the Sky, a campaign dedicated to the empowerment of girls and women across the world, Desmond Tutu questions the sidelining of women in the name of custom or tradition. If these traditions are man-made, he argues, then they can be changed.

Building an alliance to end child marriage

Every year, 10 million girls worldwide are married under the age of 18. In June 2011, Gro Brundtland, Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu travelled to Ethiopia to visit projects that are successfully educating families and communities about the harmfulness of early marriage.

Video: Middle East Q&A #1 - the Elders answer your questions

Just after returning from their recent trip to the Middle East, the Elders asked their supporters around the world to send in their questions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here, Jimmy Carter and Mary Robinson respond to some of your questions.

Jimmy Carter addresses the 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions

Speaking at the the 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions, Jimmy Carter argues that the plight of abused women is made more acceptable by the mandated subservience of women by religious leaders.

Calling for a greater role for women in the Cyprus peace process

As part of their September 2009 Cyprus visit, the Elders held meetings in the UN buffer zone in Nicosia – the only place that Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots can easily meet - with leading women from politics, civil society, business, journalism and academia. Speaking afterwards to local media they called for a greater role for women in the peace process in Cyprus.

Poverty will never be removed without the participation of women

Ela Bhatt argues that the work of women must be recognised, recorded and enhanced if poverty is ever to be tackled effectively.

Perpetrators of violence dominate peace talks at the expense of women

Mary Robinson and Lakhdar Brahimi argue that women must be included in the peace-building process.