In 2012, the UN declared October 11th as the International Day of the Girl Child, “recognising girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face worldwide”.
According to USAID, adolescent girls’ needs are clear and ambitious:
sexual education, end of violence and discrimination towards women, penalisation of genital mutilation, reduction of HIV and AIDS cases, and the possibility to learn new skills to build a future.
International Day of the Girl increases awareness of issues faced by girls around the world.
USAID also said that more than 62 million girls around the world had no access to education as of 2014. They further added that globally, girls ages 5 to 14 spend more than 160 million hours more on household chores than boys of the same age do as it is also said that one in four girls are married before the age of 18.
We can all play a part by giving young girls a voice and amplifying the voice of strong female leaders in all fields of society which will help the 1.1 billion girls under the age of 18 have a sense of hope.
We raise awareness today in order to move closer to achieving UN Sustainable development goal #5 Gender Equality.
