Julia Gillard, former Australian prime minister, chairs the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), and is campaigning for the rights of girls to stay in education. Boris Johnson has called for every girl to be guaranteed twelve years of good quality education. In his party's election manifesto he repeated his support for girls' education globally. There are 130 million girls completely missing out on school. The UK government has been among the biggest backers, giving almost £1bn in 15 years. In Ethiopia there are projects to protect girls from sexual harassment as they go to school or college. Ms Gillard says that getting girls to stay in school is the ‘keystone’ for wider economic improvement. Many girls are married off at a young age or kept at home to work (freeing up an adult to go and earn an income for the family). Despite decades of world leaders’ promises, millions have never started school.