The girl child
TOMORROW, October 11, is the United Nations International Day of the Girl Child. This came to be on December 19, 2011 when the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare such, “to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.”
It has long been recognized that all around the world, girls especially those coming from poor families are disadvantaged when it comes to family resources. It’s the boy who takes precedence, but in the Philippines, the girls are the ones who find all means to stay in school… only to be sidelined because children come one by one, unprepared for, but there to attend to.
In describing the need for a celebration to focus on girl children, the UN website reads: “Adolescent girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life, not only during these critical formative years, but also as they mature into women. If effectively supported during the adolescent years, girls have the potential to change the world – both as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, mentors, household heads, and political leaders. An investment in realising the power of adolescent girls upholds their rights today and promises a more equitable and prosperous future, one in which half of humanity is an equal partner in solving the problems of climate change, political conflict, economic growth, disease prevention, and global sustainability.”
Indeed, we only need to check on low income communities to find women, albeit unrecognized for their work, finding all means to provide for the family. They do laundry, they make kakanins, they sell fish, then they volunteer in food for work. Women are everywhere, eking out a living, most of them saying because their husbands are so-called “pakyawan”, construction worker waiting to be contracted, wage workers earning just a little, or fishermen who can only catch so much. We can hear all stories and reasons on why there isn’t enough for the family. Listen in further and you will catch sight of the girls who take the wrong turn and are exploited in their grim determination to provide more.
Now, just imagine if these same girls, with such determination are given the chance and access to improve their lot…
This year’s theme for the celebration is “Girls' Progress = Goals' Progress: What Counts for Girls.” It underlines the Sustainable Development Goals focus on gender equality and how it can be enhanced further.
For indeed, while the SDGs for girls are worth applauding, including the recognition of how girls’ progress benefit not just themselves but the whole family and society at large, there are more issues to address, which can only be properly discerned if the data are there.
The UN itself pointed out that “lack of systematic analysis, and limited use of existing data significantly limit our ability to monitor and communicate the wellbeing and progress of half of humanity.”
What else do we need to know about our girl children, where are they, how are they doing, what are the social issues that afflict them. We may have a general idea, but there is not enough data to pin down specific issues in specific communities. These we have to know. In the same way that we also need to know how our boys are doing. We cannot just lump them all together as children, because they have different needs, potentials, and roles in our society. We simply have to know them through data that illustrates their environment, circumstances, and development. For this, we join the UN in celebrating this day.