This year, the International Day of the Girl occurs just a few months after an unlikely feminist hero appeared on the big screen in a film containing a powerful monologue on what it means to be a woman.
That film is obviously Barbie and the speech written by director Greta Gerwig.
Now, I’m not going to go into the plot details, but there was an important message to be taken away about how girls and women have historically faced gender inequality and continue to fight for the right to be seen and heard.
For the past 12 years, the UN has chosen October 11th as a day to celebrate girls, similar to the adult counterpart International Women’s Day which is held in March.
The aim is to promote the rights of girls and young women, especially in developing countries where girls may have little access to education, sanitation, and future career options.
Sadly, girls living in poverty around the world are more likely to experience violence, exploitation, and child marriage, with little say in the matter.
In fact, since the Covid pandemic, 10 million more girls are at risk of child marriage than in the past (1).
Additionally, 1 in 4 adolescent girls under 19 have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner at least once in their short lives (2).
A quarter of girls are also unemployed, uneducated, or untrained as compared to one in every ten boys worldwide. 1 in 5 girls do not complete lower secondary school and 4 in 10 girls do not reach upper secondary school. (3)
These are all startling numbers for the meta-modernistic 21st century.
This year the theme of Day of the Girl Child is ‘Digital Generation, Our Generation.’ While technology and internet usage is something we often take for granted in the UK, there are still 22 billion people under the age of 25 who do not have internet access, and around 90% of these in low income countries are girls. (4)
The hope is that by making this issue known to the global community it will raise awareness that girls are falling behind in a world where the economy is driven by a male workforce who have opportunities for technology and online learning that girls are often denied.
In fact, digital media is not the only way girls and women are having their freedom curtailed.
Lack of healthcare, access to financial literacy and unpaid work all play a part in sidelining adolescent girls in developing countries and diminishing their rights rather than celebrating their many skills and talents.
Societal and gender norms prevent girls from accessing social spaces and young adolescent women are taught to be compliant and obedient instead of using their voices as a platform for change.
UNICEF is calling upon the government and major stakeholders to raise £1 billion over the next year to improve education around health, finance, parenting, and violence.
Although we might believe that the issues girls face are mainly in third world countries, shockingly 1 in 10 girls in the UK cannot afford to buy menstrual products. (5)
So, what can we do?
First of all, we can start by using our own voices to counteract examples of inequality around us. We need to speak up about injustice in society, using our own privilege to address the lack of opportunity elsewhere.
If we are blessed enough to be in a country where we can access technology, we should use that platform to campaign for those who cannot - through social media, radio, television, advertising and podcasts.
As a charity working with young women who often face sexual harassment in schools, we have a chance to speak about topics around consent and open up dialogue to encourage kindness and respect between the young men and women we teach.
As educators in the field of RSE we have a unique privilege to be able to have conversations with young people about these big topics and to raise awareness through the charities and organisations we partner with.
Secondly, we can listen and pray.
Although Jesus treated women as equals and worthy of honour and respect, all through the Bible we can see examples of women who were treated badly in marginalised societies, such as Hagar, Miriam, Esther, Deborah, Mary, and even the nameless woman at the well. God saw these women of faith and was able to use them to lead his people to safety and abundance.
If we women pray alongside one another and encourage each other to hope in the promise of a better future, then we can believe that God will work in their lives to bring about change.
We can walk with the women who have never been listened to and we can pray for God’s intervention in their lives. In our own country, we can also take notice of those who speak up about gender-based violence and misogyny, believing girls and women when they ask for help, and being a source of comfort and support.
Finally, we can act.
As it says in James 2, faith without works is dead. We need to take action to make a real difference.
The ACET family worldwide is involved in a number of programmes, with girls and young women in Sub-Saharan Africa (such as the Shining Star Project) where we know that girls are put at huge risk of contracting HIV. By offering these girls education and employment opportunities as a route out of sex work, there is the hope that new infection rates will drop, and they will be free from the shame that traps them in child marriage or poverty.
In the UK, we can fight to eliminate issues around period poverty by challenging the Government to not only make products tax-free but to supply these free of charge to all who menstruate.
Alongside this we can show adolescent girls how to make reusable period products or teach them how to protect their sexual health in romantic relationships. We can run workshops for marginalised groups of girls to build their confidence in their abilities so they believe they can be future leaders of science, industry and technology. Education starts young.
Children can be taught in primary RSHE lessons to challenge gender stereotypes, to keep their bodies safe and to know what it means to show respect and ask for consent or permission.
There is huge scope in the work that youth workers and RSE educators carry out day to day to make a real change and we must passionately believe in that so that we can help young people to believe in themselves and in a bright future.
(By the way, I think Barbie would agree).
Written by our amazing schools worker, Rachel
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