Stories that inspire
The Girls Write The Future Fund
Girls Write the Future was founded in 2014 to advance gender equality in education. To date, the organization has secured the education of many women and girls in Kenya, Zambia and Turkey. All of its projects are guided by the belief that the education of women and girls is the most impactful and effective investment possible. This is true in both human and economic development. Countries where women are educated are safer, healthier and wealthier than those where women are denied or otherwise unable to complete an education.
There is a significant gap between the enrollment of Indigenous and non-Indigenous women at Canadian universities. There are many historical, social, economic and political reasons for this, including barriers to funding. Girls Write the Future is an organization proudly based in Canada and run by Canadians. As such, it is committed to improving gender equality in education both at home and abroad.
Scholarships for Indigenous women
To do its part for Reconciliation with First Nations, the organization established the Girls Write The Future Scholarship Fund at FGM. This fund will grant scholarships to Indigenous women wishing to pursue an undergraduate education at any Canadian university. These scholarships will provide up to $5,000 per year in tuition funding for every year of a student’s degree program.
In the fall of 2023, the Fund’s first recipient will begin her undergraduate degree in midwifery at McMaster University. Miyawata (pictured above) is a member of the Poundmaker First Nation. She has been an active defender of social and environmental causes, notably in her hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
She has led truth and reconciliation workshops, written inclusive land acknowledgements and campaigned for land sovereignty and climate justice. Miyawata also organized the city’s first student climate strike. That work has been featured on the BBC series “My Life”. She has also co-authored a university-level textbook about Indigenous determinants of health. And she was a keynote speaker at the 2022 International Meeting on Indigenous Child Health.
Miyawata is an exceptional and inspiring individual. Girls Write the Future is enormously proud to award her its first scholarship, as she goes on to inspire her classmates and future scholars alike.