International Day of the Girl Child: Why it’s time to rethink our approach to empowering girls

One billion. That is the number of girls and women around the world who lack the skills required to succeed in rapidly changing, highly competitive job markets. One. Billion. Think about that for a moment.

In countries across sub-Saharan Africa, South and West Asia, girls are two times more likely than boys to grow up without ever setting foot in a classroom. They are not learning how to read, write, or do math, leaving them with no basic skills to improve their lives, safeguard their futures, provide for their families, or make significant contributions to their communities.

The fact that decent education remains out of reach for millions of girls growing up in resource-poor settings should be cause for concern – especially in a world where access to formal education could very well mean the difference between life and death.

This is especially worrying in the wake of COVID-19. The pandemic has revealed just how poorly equipped our health, social and economic systems are to protect adolescent girls from poverty, forced marriage, early pregnancy, hunger, and other barriers to a high quality of life. In the past two years alone, an estimated 11 million girls have been kept from school and may never return. Many more have been unable to work or access health care.

It doesn’t end there. In many countries in Africa and Asia, COVID-19 has created a “shadow pandemic” of domestic violence, reversing decades of progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite this, 1 in 4 countries still do not have any laws protecting women and girls from domestic violence, sending the message that violence against women is permissible.

We owe it to the world’s girls to do better. We owe it to them to break the cycle of oppression and generational poverty that are a direct result of poor education and limited health and economic opportunities.

As we commemorate the 10^th anniversary of the International Day of the Girl, which will be celebrated from October 2022 to October 2023, we implore leaders in every sphere and at every level to acknowledge the plight of the 600 million adolescent girls around the world whose futures are at risk from systemic discrimination and inequality. We call on them to move beyond the rhetoric and invest in protecting a future that is every day threatened by the heavy hand of patriarchy, which restricts girls and women from participating in classrooms and boardrooms through the entrenchment of harmful stereotypes and misogyny masked as culture that serves to “keep girls in their place”.

In what would be remembered as a landmark judgment for the years to come, the Supreme Court in India recently ruled that all women irrespective of their marital status are entitled to safe and legal abortions in the country. This is a ground-breaking step towards equitable health for all – a reassertion of the reproductive rights of women and individuals with diverse gender identities. This ruling comes in at an interesting time, not just as a collective victory for Indian women but also as a significant wake-up call in the global context of the abortion debate in the current scenario.

This ruling came on a plea seeking clarity on the amended 2021 abortion law which listed several groups that did not include single women. In the same decision, minors seeking abortions were given protection with a ruling that doctors didn’t need to disclose minor patients’ identity to the police. This essentially did away with the notion that a minor woman’s pregnancy was only because of rape, but also considered that some adolescents engage in consensual sex. The decision pointed to the taboos surrounding pre-marital sex thus preventing adolescents from using contraceptives. It also alluded to the lack of sexual health education since most adolescents in India were unaware of how contraceptive methods could prevent unwanted pregnancies.

The senseless death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who recently died at the hands of morality police after being beaten for allegedly failing to wear her hijab properly, is a painful reminder of the unjust world millions of girls live in. Her death – and those of countless others we may never know about – should not be in vain.

We must do more to protect young girls and women all over the world and give them agency not just over their bodies and choice of dress, but also over the educational and professional opportunities they elect to pursue.

If we are to reap the full benefits of an empowered generation of girls and young women, we must direct more resources towards breaking the barriers that disempower them. Unlocking their talents and giving them equal opportunities to use their skills meaningfully is a sure way to address the global challenges of unemployment, poverty, hunger and inequality that affect us all.

For every dollar invested in girls’ rights and education, developing nations could see a nearly three-fold return of $2.80.

Furthermore, investing in pathways to leadership for adolescent girls, allowing them to participate in decision-making regarding the issues that affect their ability to thrive, will empower them to use their voices to drive change. In India for example, Ab Meri Baari​ (now it’s my turn) is providing girls with a platform to speak up on sexual and reproductive health, what they need, what’s working and what needs to change.

When young girls are educated, they are more likely to participate in the formal economy, earn higher incomes, plan their families – including if, when and how many children to have – and provide better healthcare and other opportunities for their dependants. By giving them the basic tools they need to flourish and comfortably slip into leadership roles we can reap the benefits of greater economic, social, and political progress for all.

Surviving the worst pandemic in modern history gives us all another opportunity to re-examine our approach to the empowerment of girls and women. We have another chance to rethink our actions; to create a generation of leaders that is not just cognisant of the needs of girls and women, but inclusive of them. We have a billion reasons to make sure we do not waste it.

Norah Obudho is East Africa and Global Health Integration Director at WomenLift Health, an advocacy group of women leaders in global health. Shagun Sabarwal is South Asia Region and Global Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Director at WomenLift Health. Views are personal.

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