The International Day of the Girl Child, aimed at empowering young girls and amplifying their voices, is an international observance day. Annually celebrated, this remarkable day falls on the 11th of October every year. This day, just like its adult version “International Women’s Day” expects to encourage and empower girl children so that their voices will be heard on the global stage. Empowering girls from a young age serves to have a lot of empowered women in the future. In this way, the day marks a huge vitality in the growth of girl children. At the same time, this day is appointed to eliminate gender-based challenges that young girls face around the world, including child marriages, poor learning opportunities, domestic violence, sexual harassment and exploitation and discrimination. Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic added more suffering to the girl children living in rural areas and having poor living conditions. Thus, attention should be paid more and young girls should be educated on the social issues they might face and provide good guidance and far-sighted solutions. 

This year’s theme of the day is aptly named as “Our time is now—our rights, our future” which well focuses on girl children’s human rights. We have to admit the fact that even though girls are given much more attention than in the earlier days, there still lies the ground of desolation for girls. This year, UNICEF has published a section called “A call to action” where they collectively hope to call for greater attention, investment and action on: 

• Supporting the leadership of adolescent girls at the forefront of change efforts, including by hearing their voices, responding to their asks, and nurturing spaces for their inclusion in decision-making.

• Increasing resources for and investments in adolescent girls, including for the networks and organizations that support quality and inclusive education and prioritize their well-being.

• Improving access to and uptake of inclusive adolescent girl-centered services at all times but especially in crisis response and recovery.

The ultimate goal of this International Day of the Girl Child is to provide a better living for every girl out there guiding them to overcome challenges successfully. With all the efforts taken, may this world become a safer and happier place for every girl child to live happily!