Children's Day has been celebrated for decades, but on that date no distinction was made between men and women. Thus it has been thought that girls need their International Day, and the first one dedicated to them was celebrated on October 11.
The first International Day of the Girl celebrated today has as its central theme child marriage. And it is that one in three young women in developing countries has married before turning 18, an equivalent to 70 million women. Forced marriage of girls is a form of child slavery.
Child marriage is a violation of human rights but it is common in several regions of the world, especially in the rural areas of the poorest communities.
The consequences of child marriage are serious and varied, since girls have unwanted pregnancies, are more at risk of sexually transmitted diseases and may suffer complications associated with childbirth, one of the leading causes of death among young women 15 at 19 years old
In addition, according to the UN, girls are more prone to discrimination and violence. For all this, the United Nations recalls that education is one of the best strategies to protect girls from child marriages and to provide them with the opportunities they need to build a better life.
But education is also an unattainable goal for many girls, in contexts where studies are for men, closing many doors for them. Sexual mutilation, slavery in the home, child prostitution ... also take place in girls.
For all this A date like International Girls Day will still be necessary, because the claims do not end here, because girls suffer invisibility because they are small and because they are women.
