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On 19 December 2011, the United Nations General Assembly declared 11 October as the International Day of the Girl, to acknowledge the rights of girls and the unique challenges they face worldwide, as well as to promote their empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights. This observance highlights both the urgent need to act for girls and the unwavering hope that stems from the power of their voices and their vision for the future.

If girls receive effective support during adolescence, they have the potential to change the world. This is well understood by Chilean journalist Isabel Plant, one of the founders and the editor of , a project and platform aimed at bringing visibility to the contributions of women in various fields. Recently, the project has focused on convincing girls and women that there are no limits to what can be achieved through perseverance and education.

Mujeres Bacanas emerged in 2016 from the idea of four journalist friends—Fernanda Claro, Sofía García-Huidobro, Concepción Quintana, and Isabel Plant herself—to create a platform that would contribute to the new wave of feminism beginning to take shape in Chile. “We thought we could contribute through what we know best: storytelling. And we wanted to tell the stories that we weren’t seeing in the media or in educational materials but that fascinated us—the stories of women who had done important, brave, or inspiring things,” Plant recalls.

The group began by sharing the biography of an outstanding woman—a “mujer bacana”—each day. From a Nobel laureate, an athlete, and a teenager fighting against climate change to a distinguished mathematician, their goal was to create a repository of role models so that women, young and old, could find inspiration for their own projects and ambitions,” says Plant.

The platform has now shared more than two thousand biographies of women and has published four books, some aimed at a young audience. “We hope they truly make our motto their own: ‘if they could do it, so can we,’” she emphasises.

How can we promote girls’ empowerment and advocate for the fulfilment of their human rights?

The most important thing is access to education. After reviewing thousands of biographies of women from around the world, one common factor among those who managed to pursue their passions and overcome obstacles is that education is a key that opens doors and enables great leaps forward. The pandemic set us back in this regard: it is girls who have lost schooling, who are sometimes not considered as needing to finish their education, or who, for various reasons, are tied to caregiving and family support, helping at home rather than continuing with technical or university studies. Without education, empowerment is impossible.

Why is it important to highlight women’s contributions to global development, and how can this impact girls?

At Mujeres Bacanas, we hold onto the principle that “if you can see it, you can be it.” In Chile, for example, girls born in the new millennium know that they could one day become president, something that was unthinkable for previous generations. We have the challenge of making women’s contributions and the range of possibilities for their involvement in society more visible, so that, for instance, we can start to address the lack of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), or in politics, academia, and beyond. A society with more women participating in all areas is a fairer society. And girls are very receptive to these role models. Knowing these stories allows them to dream and imagine their own future.

How can we make girls’ education a priority to achieve greater gender equality?

As a society, we need to take responsibility for providing more opportunities to vulnerable girls, educating families on the importance of equal access to schooling and work. Additionally, we must build up the self-esteem of young girls so that they grow up confident in their value and see themselves as a necessary part of their home, their neighbourhood, and their country—from whatever field or path they choose.

Which women from Latin America and the Caribbean do you admire, and how do you think their stories could inspire girls and women in the region?

So many incredible women in our continent! As a book lover and journalist, I admire Mexico’s Elena Poniatowska, who has given a voice to the voiceless, and Argentina’s Leila Guerriero for similar reasons. In the culinary world, female chefs are making their mark in the very male-dominated restaurant industry, bringing flavour and creativity and becoming role models themselves, like Leonor Espinosa from Colombia or Carolina Bazán from Chile. In sport, Chile’s Christiane Endler and Brazil’s Marta Vieira da Silva have shown that women shine in football with just as much talent as men, breaking even more barriers along the way. We have remarkable environmental activists like Brazil’s Marina Silva or Ecuador’s Nemonte Nenquimo, with their tireless fights to protect the Amazon rainforest. I am always amazed by the women in science, from the iconic María Teresa Ruiz in Chilean astronomy to the Dominican marine conservation pioneer Idelisa Bonnelly, and young Peruvian Mariana Costa, who has done tremendous work training women in programming. The list goes on and on…