Super role models - G20: Street Level - Action News
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Super role models - G20: Street Level

Super role models

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The G(irls) 20 delegates(Photo provided by the G(irls) 20 Summit)

By Jennifer Hollett, CBC News

jennifer-hollett-52.jpgSo the other day I was hanging out with a supermodel. Indulge me, this doesn't happen often. And we're talking one of the original supermodels: Christy Turlington Burns.

OK, we weren't really hanging out. I was moderating a Q&A discussion around her documentary on maternal health for the G(irls) 20 Summit. "No Woman, No Cry" follows women in Tanzania, Bangladesh, Guatemala and the U.S, exploring the challenges mothers face in receiving adequate health care.




When introducing the film, Christy said she's often asked if there's anything she wished she would have done in her life, and her answer is usually no. But, after seeing the G(irls) 20 Summit, she said she wished she could have been a part of this event when she was 19 years old.

Outside of my role at the CBC, I've had the incredible opportunity of moderating the sessions at the first ever G(irls) 20 Summit. The conference brought together young women from the G20 nations, plus one delegate from the Africa Union. Over the last couple of days, the "girls" have put together a recommendation for the G20 on education, maternal and child health, and economic opportunity for women, addressing issues and ideas from abortion to play pumps (child friendly structures that pump clean water through play). Click here for their entire communiqu.

Lately, at times, be it with the Gulf oil spill or Haiti, I question if the world is actually coming to an end. Being surrounded by the G(irls) 20 delegates brought me peace. Watching them work together, and agree on a spectrum of issues, I felt all is right in the world. All is possible.

Now only if that could happen at the G20. Maybe in the future it can, if these women run for office.

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