“Radd gender equality through the empowerment of women and girls.” It is the UN’s sustainable development goal number 5. An objective which unfortunately must be considered very ambitious, given the disadvantages and discrimination to which girls, 1.1 billion in the world, are still subjected every day today, in 2023. For this reason the United Nations celebrates October 11 as International Day of the Girl Child.
International Day of the Girl Child, why it is celebrated
The Day was established with Resolution 66/170 of 19 December 2011 in order to focus attention on the rights of the littlest ones and on the need to promote their emancipation.
The particular condition of girls – warns the UN – consists above all in potential they possess. «If supported adequately during adolescence, it is possible for them to become women, workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, independent political leaders. This is a real one investment in the future. Half the world can thus be an equal partner in addressing issues of climate change, political conflict, economic growth, disease prevention and global sustainability.”
A thesis that may appear banal and even reductive of female potential but which is in fact a mirage. Women are not yet “half of the world” “equal partners” of their male counterparts.
School, health and early marriage: what girls deserve
Above all, there has been some progress on these issues for girls under ten years of age. Compared to previous generations, they have a greater chance of enrolling in primary school and receiving the main vaccinations, and are less exposed to nutrition and health problems.
The situation in the second decade of life, that of girls aged 10 and over, is more serious. Much still needs to be done regarding the quality of secondary and high schools. Other hot topics, for the UN, i early marriages, raising awareness of puberty and reproductive health, protection from unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and gender violence.
Investing in girls’ rights, the link between education and income
Unicef remembers this by choosing it as the theme of the day “Investing in girls’ rights: our leadership and well-being”, with particular attention to adolescents.
Almost one in 5 girls, recalls Unicef, has not yet completed lower secondary school and almost 4 in 10 girls are not completing upper secondary school, and in some regions the numbers are even more disheartening.
Nevertheless, for every additional year of secondary education a girl receives, her potential income increases by approximately 10-20%. This translates into greater economic productivity, reduced poverty rates and improved general well-being.
Little internet, a lot of housework: the life of girls around the world according to Unicef
About 90% of adolescent girls and young women do not use the Internet in low-income countries, while their male peers are twice as likely to be online.
Globally, girls aged between the ages of 5 and 14 they spend 160 million more hours of domestic work and care every day unpaid compared to children of the same age. This inequality in the distribution of unpaid work intensifies in adolescence, with serious implications for girls’ well-being.
International Day of the Girl Child in Italy: there is a record number of crimes against them
In Italy the sexual violence on minors have increased by 44% in the last 10 years. And in 88% of cases, the victims are girls and boys. This is the alarming data released on the occasion of the World Day of Girls by Terre des Hommes.
Crimes against minors in Italy in 2022 reported a record, after the record of 2021. There were 6,857, with a drastic increase of 10% from 2021, when the figure exceeded 6 thousand for the first time. The greatest worsening concerns sexual violence, which grew by 27% in one year: from 714 in 2021 it went to 906 last year, 89% of which was against girls.
The Indifesa dossier of Terre des Hommes
The data, processed by the Criminal Analysis Service of the Central Criminal Police Directorate, are collected in Indifesa dossier “The condition of girls and boys in the world” 2023, developed every year, for twelve years, by the NGO.
Worldwide, 736 million girls have suffered violence
The imbalance to the detriment of the female gender in various types of crimes, in particular in those considered “spy” of gender violence, is also confirmed in the population taken as a whole: in the data of the Criminal Analysis Service itself, girls and women are over 82% of victims of abuse against family members and cohabitants, over 92% of sexual violence.
Globally, second According to the World Health Organization, 31% of women between the ages of 15 and 49 have suffered physical or sexual violence from a man at least once in their lives: that’s 736 million women and girls. A shocking fact, but an underrepresentation: World Bank research in 44 countries estimates that less than half (49%) of women victims of physical or sexual violence ask for help.
The violent person is (almost) always male
«In light of the new, very sad, record, events such as the Palermo rape appears as a litmus test of patriarchal, chauvinistic, prevaricating and violent culture which reduces a woman’s body to a “piece of meat”, in violence created to be shown and which seems to want to stamp the seal of male, individual and group power”, said Paolo Ferrara, General Director of Terre des Hommes.
How to reverse course? Build an organic response. The introduction of the Red Code is fine, «but there is a lack of a long-term intervention plan on gender equality at school. There is no desire to finally introduce subjects such as sexual and affective education to the “ethical” use of digital media. And kids will have to get involved more than anyone else: if gender violence concerns everyone, the violent person is always or almost always male.”
The Put Yourself In Your Shoes campaign for the International Day of the Girl Child
On the occasion of the International Day of the Girl Child, Terre des Hommes launches a fundraising campaign. With #PutYourselfInHisShoes invites everyone to literally put themselves in the shoes of those who have suffered abuse, to show them solidarity and support. To fight rape culture we must all stand with the victims, without any ifs or buts.
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