Meryl Streep, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Lauren Bush Lauren and Sheryl Sandberg join international women in call for world leaders to take urgent action for women’s empowerment

Meryl Streep, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Lauren Bush Lauren and Sheryl Sandberg are among 35 influential women backing ONE’s campaign for world leaders to put girls and women center stage in 2015, a year when world leaders must agree new global goals to set the development agenda for a generation.

These high-profile women, including academics, politicians, business leaders, actors and musicians, have added their names to ONE’s call for action. They have signed an open letter to Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany and the chair of this year’s G7 summit and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the chair of the African Union Commission – both of whom are key decision makers this year. The letter reads in part:

Put simply, poverty is sexist, and we won’t end it unless we face up to the fact that girls and women get a raw deal, and until leaders and citizens around the world work together for real change. Because when we deliver for girls and women, we deliver for everyone. Realising women’s rights helps deliver everyone’s rights.

If we get this right, we could help lift every girl and woman out of poverty by 2030 – and by doing so we will lift everyone. Get this wrong and extreme poverty, inequality and instability might spread in the most vulnerable regions, impacting all our futures.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, called on her fellow leaders to act now, and said:

Poverty is sexist: I see it all the time, too often women and girls are worst hit by poverty and left to carry its burdens. But investing in them is also so often the solution. So let’s deliver for women because women deliver. This year through the AU and G7 Summits on women’s empowerment, through the Addis Ababa financing summit and through the new Global Goals to be launched in New York, lets ensure that investing in women and girls is central to the strategy, and lets call upon a generation of women around the world to unite for this essential and transformative call to action.

ONE is launching this major new campaign today, International Women’s Day, because extreme poverty won’t be overcome unless world leaders act now to help girls and women reach their full potential. Poverty and gender inequality go hand in hand.

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, who has signed the open letter, said:

When it comes to poverty, everyone suffers — women and men, girls and boys. But the crushing blow of poverty often falls heavier on females due to the stereotypes and legal shortcomings that stack the deck against them in so many nations.

“I embrace this campaign to put empowering women at the heart of global anti-poverty efforts. Mothers invest in their daughters and sons, and make their communities stronger. If we get this right for women, everyone will be better off.

The new Sustainable Development Goals, due to be unveiled in September, will set out a plan to end extreme poverty by 2030. ONE’s report argues we will fail to reach this aim if girls and women aren’t firmly at the centre of the goals. As part of that process, this summer’s G7 and African Union summits, under leadership of Chancellor Merkel and Commission Chair Dlamini-Zuma, could pave the way for new policies and financing that empower women and girls.

Eloise Todd, ONE’s Global Policy Director, said:

It’s time to unleash the human, social, political and economic potential of women everywhere. With new Global Goals for development on the horizon, 2015 can be the year to make that happen, but only if leaders hear it loudly enough from citizens. ‘Poverty is Sexist’ is our rallying cry to Chancellor Merkel, chairperson Dlamini-Zuma, and leaders from around the world. When citizens raise their voice it can make leaders keep their promises.

The full list of women who have signed the letter is:

Ali Hewson, Founder, Edun and Nude
Angelique Kidjo, Singer, Songwriter and Activist
Angellah Kairuki, Member of Parliament (Tanzania)
Ann Cairns, President, International Markets, MasterCard
Arianna Huffington, Chair, President, and Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post Media Group
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Entertainer and Entrepreneur
Charlize Theron, Actress, UN Messenger of Peace, Founder of Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project
Christy Turlington Burns, Founder, Every Mother Counts
Cindi Leive, Editor-in-Chief, Glamour Magazine
Danai Gurira, Actress, Playwright and Activist
Gesine Schwan, Professor and Former Presidential Candidate
Helene Gayle, President and CEO, CARE
Jude Kelly, CBE, Artistic Director, Southbank Centre
Jutta Allmendinger, Professor and Ph.D., President of the Wissenschaftszentrum
Karen Kornbluh, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations*
Karen Ruimy, Musician, Performer and Author
Lady Gaga, Singer and Songwriter
Lauren Bush Lauren, Founder and CEO, FEED
Mabel van Oranje, Initiator and Chair, Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage
Dr. Maria Furtwängler, Actress and Physician
Marian Salzman, CEO, Havas PR
Mariella Frostrup, Journalist and Cofounder of GREAT Initiative
Meryl Streep
Michele Sullivan, President and Director of Corporate Social Innovation, The Caterpillar Foundation
Mimi Alemayehou, Development Finance Executive
Monica Musonda, CEO and Founder of Java Foods (Zambia)
Mpule Kwelagobe, Activist
Naisula Lesuuda, Senator (Kenya)
Rita Wilson, Actress, Producer and Singer
Rosamund Pike, Actress
Sabine Christiansen, Journalist, Producer and UNICEF-Ambassador
Sarah Silverman, Comedian, Actress and Activist
Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook
Sheryl WuDunn, Banker and Author
Susan Shabangu, Minister of Women’s Affairs (South Africa)
Yvonne Chaka Chaka, President of the Princess of Africa Foundation, Activist and Singer