Hosting Plan International UK's Gala Dinner

Born in Canada and living in the UK, I’ve never felt limited as a woman and was told I could be anything I wanted to be. Had I been born in a developing country it might have been very different. Every two seconds a girl is forced to marry and one in three* girls and women are subjected to sexual or physical violence. As a TV comedian, I use my voice to earn a living, so it’s hard to imagine a life where I wouldn’t even have a say over my own future, simply because I was born a girl – the two worlds seem so far apart right now.

Last night, as the sun set,  glowing up London’s famous skyline, the sun was also setting in Liberia, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea- Bissau, Ghana and Togo. Although these countries couldn’t seem further away from us in England, the stories at the Gala Dinner made the reality of what girls in these countries are facing seem much closer to home.