#IamNotSmiling because every minute 23 underage girls get married.
Several of my friends has been banished from the school after they get pregnant. #IamNotSmiling
#IamNotSmiling because every day 190 girls die because of pregnancy.
One of the wildly recognised micro-aggressions is one of the oldest comments in the book toward women: telling them to smile. Study after study has confirmed that women smile more than men do, and how we are socialised as children plays a big part in this. Little girls are praised and encouraged to smile. By age five, girls are more likely than boys to smile on receiving a disappointing gift. In the media, women are more likely portrayed as smiling: especially if they are in a position of power. For men, the story is different.
On Women's Day, well-known women, such as the President of Finland, Tarja Halonen, raised issues that do not make them smile. We urged people to share their selfies and stories on social media using our hashtag #eihymyilytä. The campaign gathered a large crowd of supporters behind it as people shared their selfies with stories about inequality issues with the tag #eihymyilytä (I am #notsmiling because..). During the campaign, Plan also noticed a significant increase in monthly donators.
The movement became an annual start to the Plan Finlands Women's Day campaign.
The campaign was done mainly pro-bono by all participants. We saw around 5000 selfies during campaign time. This is a huge number in our tiny country.
#IamNotSmiling because we need actions to ensure equality.
Thank you.