I recently spoke at the Women Moving Millions 2025 Annual Summit, where women philanthropists, investors, change-makers and advocates come together to co-create solutions for collective impact.

At a moment when governments around the world are stepping back from commitments to gender equality — from access to education and health to safety and participation — this conversation felt especially urgent and hopeful.

It was the first time that sexual violence against children and adolescents was featured on the main stage, and I was deeply honored to be part of that discussion alongside leaders such as Soma Sara MBE, Elizabeth Carlock Phillips, and S. Mona Sinha.

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The effects of sexual violence against children last a lifetime

The scale of this crisis is staggering. Today we know, thanks in part to research we helped lead, that one in five girls and one in seven boys around the world experience sexual violence before their 18th birthday.

That’s 200 million girls and 143 million boys — about the entire population of the United States.

The effects last a lifetime – abuse silences them, pushes them out of school, and harms their bodies and minds, shrinking their futures.

The data are clear: girls and women experience violence at every moment in their lives–in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

But adolescent girls are especially vulnerable, experiencing multiple forms of violence that affect both children, like child sexual abuse, child marriage, and adult women, like dating violence.

But let me be clear, abuse isn’t just personal — it’s systemic.

It happens and repeats when institutions and individuals look away, online platforms leave doors open to harm, and laws fail to ensure the safety of children and adolescents.

Every girl deserves the chance to thrive

It doesn’t have to be this way: sexual violence, at every age, is preventable. We can stop abuse before it happens. We have the data, the tools, and the proof of what works.

But it doesn’t have to be this way: sexual violence, at every age, is preventable. We can stop abuse before it happens. We have the data, the tools, and the proof of what works.

And when it comes to children, this is truly a bipartisan issue.

At Together for Girls we are already building a world where girls can grow up healthy, to thrive and to lead.

Together, we are powerful. For me, that’s not just a slogan — a deeply personal truth. I am many things: I’m a CEO, a leader, a psychologist, a mother, and a wife.

I am also a survivor of child sexual abuse. It took me a very long time to be able to say that out loud, to a room full of strangers.

I was sexually abused by someone close to my family, starting at the age of 6. And for many years, I lived in silence and fear. Eventually, at age 15, I was able to tell my parents what had happened, and that started a series of events that changed my life and allowed me to be here.

I’m one of the few lucky ones who had access to support, education, and resources that helped me heal and become the leader, the woman I am today.

Every girl deserves that chance, and we can make that happen.

I just turned 50. Over the last 35 years, I went from feeling very alone — believing I was the only one — to understanding that there are many of us. And that together, we are powerful.

When survivors and allies stand together, when we challenge the status quo and rewrite the rules, amazing things happen.

I want to take a moment now to acknowledge and thank the Oak Foundation, which took a leap of faith in funding the launch of the Brave Movement–a special initiative that sits within my organization, Together for Girls.

And I want to share some examples of what we’ve achieved so far, because investing in movements and supporting survivor leadership can make a big of difference:

We’ve got the G7 and the seven countries that are part of it, to make commitments around ending childhood sexual violence for the first time in over 40 years of existence.
We’ve pushed new laws to abolish statutes of limitations in the European Union, to ensure survivors and victims have access to the justice they deserve, and raised the age of consent in Japan and France.
As part of collective and bipartisan action, we made it possible to remove AI-generated deepfakes and non-consensual images in the US.
With Brave Movement survivor leaders from across Africa, we are working with the African Union to enact legislation that prioritizes keeping children safe at home and online.
Most importantly, there are now over 25 Brave Movement national platforms, established by local movement leaders who set their own advocacy priorities and campaigns.

We must be brave so children can be safe

If you remember nothing else from my talk, I hope you’ll remember this: our success is in our collective action. We need to act together and we need to act now.

Ending sexual violence against children and adolescents is not just a child protection issue — it’s a gender equality issue.

Around the world, survivors are rising, allies are joining, and governments are beginning to listen.

The question now is not if change is possible — it’s whether we are brave enough to make that change happen, together.