On the International Day of the Girl Child (11th October), we join the rest of the world to celebrate girls everywhere as they inspire, break boundaries, and take charge of their own future. This day is used to promote girl’s empowerment and the fulfillment of their Human Rights whilst also highlighting the challenges that girls all over the world face. The day also brings attention to the need to provide better education, protection from violence, and put a stop to child marriage, inequalities in education, legal rights, medical care, and a safe environment for the girl child. Studies have shown that 1 in 3 women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence. Emerging data shows that since the outbreak of COVID-19, violence against women and girls (VAWG), and particularly domestic violence, has INTENSIFIED. Worldwide, nearly 1 in 4 girls aged 15–19 years is neither employed nor in education or training compared to 1 in 10 boys of the same age.
The theme for this year’s International Day of the girl child is “My voice, our equal future”, let’s seize the opportunity to strive for a better world inspired by adolescent girls – energized and recognized, counted, and invested in. As adolescent girls worldwide assert their power as change-makers, International Day of the Girl 2020 will focus on their demands to:
Live free from gender-based violence harmful practices, and HIV and AIDS
Learn new skills towards the futures they choose
Lead as a generation of activists accelerating social change
Empowering women and girls and promoting gender equality is crucial to accelerating sustainable development. Ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls is not only a basic human right, but it also has a multiplier effect across all other development areas.
