Two decades on, a remake of the Spice Girls’ Wannabe video, featuring artists from India, Nigeria, South Africa, UK, USA and Canada, is being produced to tell world leaders what girls and women really really want in 2016 to achieve the UN’s Global Goals.
Project Everyone, in partnership with Getty Images and SAWA, the global cinema advertising association, will see the release of “#WhatIReallyReallyWant” as part of the Global Goals campaign for girls and women.
MJ Delaney, of Moxie Pictures, directs a remake of the Spice Girls’ Wannabe which features Gigi Lamayne and Moneoa from South Africa, Seyi Shay from Nigeria, M.O from the UK, Taylor Hatala from Canada, Larsen Thompson from the USA and, of course, Bahrain’s own Bollywood babe Jacqueline Fernandez who hails from Sri Lanka but represents India and was born and brought up in the Kingdom.
In September 2016, world leaders will mark the first anniversary of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals. These global goals are a mighty plan to end poverty, fix climate change and address inequalities over the next 15 years, but they will only succeed if they address the needs of the most marginalised first, particularly those of girls and women.
Issues such as quality education, an end to violence, an end to child marriage and equal pay for equal work need to be top of every government’s agenda in order to give the Goals the best possible start.
Project Everyone marks 20 years of Girl Power with an updated version of Wannabe and the tagline “#WhatIReallyReallyWant”. The film reflects the voices of girls and women all over the world and aims to get them speaking out.
The film #WhatIReallyReallyWant is online on Global Goals’ official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZQ2RUFd54o&feature=youtu.be
BOLLYWOOD JOINS THE CAMPAIGN
Jacqueline Fernandez tells Woman This Month why this is an initiative close to her own heart.
Why did you decide to get involved with the Global Goals Campaign – is there any part of it that’s particularly close to your heart?
The world needs a dose of girl power and that’s why I’m supporting the Global Goals campaign for girls and women. I am delighted to be lending my support to the film, Global Goals and Project Everyone.
I am a huge advocate for empowering girls and women, and I want to support my peers and others around the world to help create an international community where women feel secure, strong and supported.
Our potential is limitless, and participating in this film is just one of the ways I am committed to help promote the Global Goals campaign.
In a world where 70 per cent of the poor are women, improving access to healthcare and quality schooling are just a couple of the essential steps forward that will change everything for all communities around the globe. These goals can only be met if we do everything in our power to help marginalised communities of girls and women.
If the last 15 years was about putting girls and women on the agenda, the next 15 years is about putting them at the heart of the agenda, which they themselves can deliver. This is embodied in the Global Goals where gender perspectives and special indicators for women are integrated across many goals.
But as Richard Curtis [film director and supporter] has said before, you cannot fight for your rights until you know what they are!
What I really, really want is for people to recognise the potential of girls when they are allowed to study instead of doing household chores. And what I really, really want is to end violence against women. I want women to feel powerful and beautiful. Nothing can stop us once we are given equal opportunities and are allowed to flourish. Investing in equality and the financial independence of women, who represent more than half of the global population in disempowered communities, is one of the safest bets when it comes to international economic and social development.
How can readers get involved and help to make a difference?
This calls on people to share a picture of #WhatIReallyReallyWant for girls and women. The visual responses from around the world will be presented to world leaders at the UN General Assembly in September to encourage new political and financial commitments from governments, in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. I would request the readers to use the #WhatIReallyReallyWant hashtag, share a photo of yourself holding up what YOU really, really want for girls and women.
Aside from the campaign, what are you working on at the moment?
I am again working alongside the UN for the #WildForLife campaign which aims to spur action to protect endangered species and end illegal trade in wild life. Few who see a tiger, elephant or rhino in the wild forget the experience. People can be equally inspired by seeing them on television or in films, and these moments make us want to explore nature’s wonders and can turn us into conservationists, scientists and people who care about the natural world around us. Kids’ rooms all across the globe are filled with stuffed likenesses of these iconic species. Wouldn’t it be tragic to know they disappeared in our lifetime? The illegal trade in wildlife is threatening these majestic beasts, and we have to join forces to stop it.
Do you ever get back to Bahrain to visit and do you still have connections here?
Having spent a major part of my childhood and teenage years there, I do visit my school friends and family. I love to spend some quality family time in Bahrain.
Do you have a message for girls in Bahrain who might be experiencing any of the issues raised in the film?
Gender discrimination needs to stop, and it needs to stop now. Speak up and do not give into it. This film is just one step in that fight. Many of the issues we’re spotlighting do not reside in one country alone and neither are these issues just for the developing world – it cuts across the world.
