Yesterday was International Day of the Girl Child. It is part of the women's empowerment movement but in this case the focus is on young girls and how to overcome the many challenges they face on a daily basis. It is recognized all over the world but Belize has now caught on and observed the day. Member of the UN Gender Theme Group Ann-Marie Williams discussed the significance:
Ann-Marie Williams, UN Gender Theme Group Rep.
"The first celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child actually rolled around on December 19th 2011. The international day is not a new day but for us here in Belize it seems new. What happened the girl child has been a feature ever since 1995 when the Beijing conference was held. Belize prioritized five major areas and the girl child was not one of them, many of the African countries prioritized the girl child because of the vulnerability the girl child faces at that time and continue to face such as female genital mutilation, gender violence, all forms of sexual violence and we find out in Belize now, the time has come to actually mark the observance because the girl child is in trouble, to be born female is a disadvantage and it doesn't matter what people say, the data shows you that."
"The awareness though it brings to bear an opportunity for people in Belize to look at the marks we have made in terms of the girl child and to keep stock of the gains and to build on the gains that we have made. Belize has done well in terms of education."
"We have a number of women graduating almost 3 to 1 over the male counterparts at the University but we notice a lot of these women are not in fields like IT and engineering they have been taking part in non-traditional fields, still not many opportunities are open. In terms of health you have a number of young people particularly young girls who cannot access sexual and reproductive health services at the age of 15 or as an adolescence on their own."
"So we need to look at that, we also need to examine gender based violence, a lot of young girls face sexual violence and the common street harassment that men feel are okay "Hi babes, hi sweetie." Girls are not safe and it has been shown that when, that girls have a right to be safe, they have a right to an education and to live healthy lives and if as a society we can nurture those things then girls grow up to realize their full potential."
Information pamphlets were sent out to high schools and people are being encouraged to post #DayoftheGirl along with pictures and messages in support of young girls on social media.
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