International Day of the Girl Child

United Nations set October 11 as day of International Day of the Girl Child . The first International Day of the Girl Child was held on October 2012 and the theme was ‘Ending Child Bride Marriage”. The day was set to create awareness of the challenges faced by girls and to include girls in the development plans of the world, to provide opportunities for girls to showcase their leadership role and to achieve their dreams.

Girls face multiple challenges in our society, from being denied access to education, forced child marriage, maternal mortality, rape, domestic violence, child labor e.t.c. There are numerous challenges that girls face that prevent them from achieving their potentials. Instilling traditional values plays a major negative role in the development of a girl child to reach her full potentials.

According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) around 132 million girls across the world are out of school. Less than 40% of countries provide girls and boys with equal access to education, employment, equal pay for equal work, access to political representation, freedom e.t.c.

This year theme “My voice, our equal future” is a call to lend our voice for immediate radical social and political change, to eliminate discriminations and prejudice holding girls back. A girl should not be silenced or ignored in our society. A girl Fundamental Human Rights must not be taken away from her.

Young and being a female doesn’t mean she should be silenced! We all must come together to lend our voices to injustices and inequalities faced by girls based on their gender.

”Because I am girl doesn’t give right to anyone to silence and ignore me”