Rome: Google marked International Women’s Day with a special live-action Google Doodle featuring real women discussing their hopes for the future, and a famous scientist mentions Pope Francis.
Google Doodles are the usually animated drawings the internet giant uses to mark holidays and important anniversaries.
This year, the theme of International Women’s Day is “Planet 50-50 by 2030,” an independent campaign that aims to put gender equality at the centre of global sustainability plans.
Staff from Google visited 13 countries and asked 337 women and girls to complete the sentence, “One day I will…”, and used the resulting video to create a 90-second Google Doodle, Vatican Radio reported.
One of the more notable women featured is anthropologist Jane Goodall – who said she wants to meet the Holy Father. “I will discuss the environment with Pope Francis,” she said during the video.
Other people featured on the video include Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and Muzoon Almellehan, who say “One day we will see every girl in school.”
“International Women’s Day is a celebration of the women who are here today working towards a better future, and in that sense it was important for me to make sure that we celebrate the real women,” Google’s Liat Ben-Rafael told Mirror Online, explaining why she chose not to use the usual animated characters.
“It’s the unsung heroes, this is what we’re celebrating, so not showing the real women behind this would be a big loss.”
Google invites all women to use the hashtag #OneDayIWill to share their aspirations with the world on International Women’s Day.