International Day of the Girl is a UN initiative set up to promote the rights of girls around the world. Taking place every year on 11th October, it aims to highlight the realities of life as a girl across the globe and the challenges they face with regards to education, healthcare, child marriage, equal opportunity and sexual violence.
While not every girl in the world will face all of these challenges, but almost every girl will encounter at least one of them, which is why Day of the Girl is so important.
This year's theme is “Girls’ Progress = Goals’ Progress: A Global Girl Data Movement”, a call for action for increased investment in collecting and analysing girl-relevant and sex-dis-aggregated data.
A theme designed to highlight the fact that what is good for girls is also good for driving progress across society and ending poverty.
The data collected so far has highlighted some of the biggest issues facing girls all over the world, including:
- One in three girls in developing countries (expect China) are married before 18
- Childbirth is the number one killer of girls aged 15-19, with 50,000 deaths annually
- 36 million primary school aged girls are not in school
- A child is 50% more likely to survive past the age of five if she is born to a mother who can read
700 million women alive today were
married before 18 and so UN Women works globally to change that.
Despite half the population being female, women experience discrimination on a daily basis due to gender inequality. Feeling it the most are the 1.1 billion girls in the world.
One in three girls in developing countries get married before the age of 18, which usually means that they miss out on education, a career and are more vulnerable to physical and sexual violence.
But by stopping this, it won’t only help girls but families and communities too. This year’s theme is Girls’ Progress = Goals’ Progress –
The
International Day of the Girl Child aims are to empower women, raise
awareness on their rights and implement laws that will prohibit child
marriage.
World renowned actress and Goodwill
Ambassador Emma Watson visited Malawi, in southeastern Africa to bring
awareness to the need to end child marriage. The visit provided Watson
with a first-hand experience of the work that traditional leaders are
doing to bring girls back to school and end child marriage:
How do I get involved?
Share the Light
Imagine not being allowed to go to school simply because you’re a girl. Well for 33 million girls, that’s a reality. And it shouldn’t be.
Spread the word
raise awareness or send out a few words of inspiration,
Take Action
Standing with the girl child actually goes beyond words of mouth, its an action, that begins with you and me, this you can do by simply doing any of this listed three;
1.Mentor a girl child,
2. Champion the education of a girl child,
3. Educate a Girl Child
When we empower girls, everybody benefits. Girls who are educated, healthy and free can transform their communities and pass on the benefits to their children, and to their children’s children.
Studies show that educated women have healthier children, who are more likely to live longer and attend schools themselves. Educating women is thus an important first step towards beating poverty and hunger.
