INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRLS CHILD

INTRODUCTION

1.         International day of the girl child is a day declared by the United Nations.  It is also called the day of girls and the International Day of the Girls.   October 11, 2012, was the first day of a girl Child.

2.         The observation encourages more chance for girls and increases awareness of gender inequality faced by girls all around globe based upon their gender. This inequality in areas such as education, nutrition, legal rights, medical care, and protection from discrimination, violence against girl child and forced girl child marriage. The celebration of the day is to commemorate the successful emergence of girls and young women as a distinct  development policy, programming, campaigning and research.”

PREVIEW

3.         The article has been divided into following parts:

            (a)  Part-I.   Background and History.

            (b)  Part-II.   Initiative and Vision.

            (c)  Part-III.    Across the Globe Events.

PART-I : BACKGROUND AND HISTORY

4.         International Day of the girl child increases awareness against issues faced by girls around the world. Global development plans does not include or consider girls, and their issues become “invisible”.

5.         60 million girls around the world had no access to education, according to USAID.  Worldwide and also collectively, girls ages 5 to 14 spend more than 160 million hours more on household chores than boys of the same age do globally, one in four girls are victim of child marriage.

6.         On October 11, 2016, Emma Watson, a United Nations Women’s goodwill ambassador, asked countries and families around the globe to end forced child marriage.  So many girls around the globe are vulnerable to sexual violence and the offenders often go unpunished.

7.         The day of girls helps raise awareness not only against the issues that girls face, but also of what will happen if those problems are solved.

8.         For example, educating girls not only helps in literacy but also reduce the rate of child marriage, and helps strengthen the economy by helping girls have access to higher paying jobs.

Malala’s Recovery

9.         As Malala Yousafzai lay in a Pakistani hospital with gunshot wounds, the United Nations on marked its first International Day of the girl child.

10.      The U.N. event, planned long before Malala was shot this week, with prime focus on an end to child marriage and emphasized importance of educating girls, the cause that put Malala in front of a Taliban gun.

11.      Education for girls is one of the best ways to protect girls against child marriage, when they are able to stay in school and avoid being married early, girls can build a better foundation for a better life of their families and themselves.

12.      UN asked our society, including governments, community and religious leaders and families especially boys and men to promote the rights of girls.

13.      “Let us do our part to let girls be girls, not brides,” the UN said.

PART-II : INITIATIVE AND VISION

14.      The International girls day began as a project, a non-governmental organization that operates worldwide.  The idea for an international day of observance grew out of plan because “I Am a Girl campaign”, which raises awareness of the importance of empowering girls globally and in developing countries in particular.

15.      International representatives in Canada approached the Canadian federal government to seek to the coalition of supporters to raise awareness of the initiative internationally.   Eventually the plan grabbed the attention of UN.

16.      International girls day was proposed as a resolution by Canada in the United Nations General Assembly.  Rona Ambrose, Canada’s Minister for the Status of Women sponsored the project, a delegation of women and girls made a project plan in support of the initiative at the 55th United Nations Commission on Status of the women

17.      Empowerment of girls and investment in girls, which are critical for our economic growth, the achievement of all development Goals, including the eradication of poverty,  as well as the participation of girls in decisions that affect them, are key in breaking the cycle of violence and discrimination and in promoting and protecting the full and effective enjoyment of girl’s human rights.

18.      Empowering girls requires their active participation in decision-making processes as well as boys and men and the wider community.

19.      Each year’s girls day has a theme; the first was “ending child marriage”, the second was “innovating for girls’ education”, the third was “Empowering Adolescent Girls: Ending the Cycle of Violence”, and the fourth was “The Power of Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030″.

20.      By 2013, worldwide, there were around 2,043 events for girls day.

PART-III : ACROSS THE GLOBE EVENTS

21.      Various events to promote the girls day are planned in several countries. Most of it are sponsored by the United Nations, such as a concert in Mumbai, India.  Non-governmental organization, Girl Guides Australia, supported events and activities for International Day of Girls.

22.      Local organizations had developed their own events, such as girls and football of South Africa, WHO in 2012, distributed T-shirts on International girls day to commemorate the 1956 Black Sash march by 20,000 women.

23.      An one day event was held on London’s South Bank in 2013, which included theatre and film performances by Body Gossip, an organisation that campaigns on body image and mental health issues around the globe.  For the first girls day a virtual event was organised and developed by Sage Girl and iTwixie to bring thousands of individuals and organizations together online.

24.      In 2016, Women of the World (WOW) festival held in London where 250 London school-aged girls were paired with women mentors.  Also in 2016, the President of the United StatesBarack Obama, issued a proclamation in support to put an end to gender disparity.

Maj Nagarjun M

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