There have been important changes in the lives of adolescent girls and their access to education since the millennium, but the world still has a long way to go in the struggle for gender equality. The 2015 State of the World’s Girls report brings together 14 prominent contributors who hail progress made in realising girls’ rights, but lament the fact that girls still face huge challenges.

The report's many renowned contributors include:

Mariane Pearl, Managing Editor of the Chime for Change campaign, journalist and author
Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo
Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia, Chair of the Board of the Global Partnership for Education
Anita Haidary, Afghan women’s rights activist and co-founder of Young Women for Change
Liya Kebede, supermodel and designer, founder of the Liya Kebede Foundation for mothers
President Jimmy Carter
Nawal El Saadawi, writer, novelist, medical doctor and fighter for women’s rights

This is a threshold moment, the contributors write, where the gains made in maternal mortality, female education and legal protection under the umbrella of the Millennium Development Goals can be built upon by the Sustainable Development Goals, which have gender equality at their centre. But they stress that without economic empowerment and equitable education, no further gains can be made.