Girls have the potential to change the world

Oct 07, 2018 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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On December 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.
The International Day of the Girl Child focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights.
The UN affirmed that, 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.
Here in Guyana our President, His Excellency David Granger, in an address to the Women and Gender Equality Conference, held in Georgetown on August 27, 2015, said; “We have seen over the past century, how the status of women has moved from the stage of blatant ‘discrimination’ in which they were denied the right to vote in colonial elections; to one of ‘agitation’ in the post-World War II struggle for independence; to one of ‘representation’ in the post-independence period to one of intense ‘legislation’ subsequent to the launch of the State Paper (on Equality of Women) in 1976. These challenges were all necessary, but not sufficient. We must now move forward to the fifth stage, that of full ‘realization’ of gender equality.
The enforcement of enabling legislation is often ineffectual; momentum for change has slowed and the economic and political gap between men and women is still too wide. Women and girls, despite a few remarkable exceptions, are being left behind and are still relatively disadvantaged.
Your government aim in the first instance, at designing, along with its social and political partners, a national policy aimed at ensuring that five principal objectives are met- equality of women in politics and society; eradication of extreme poverty; enhancement of employment opportunities; elimination of violence against women and enhanced access to education, especially in science and technology.”
Recent statistic show that young female school-leavers might have been given academic education, practical skills and a social orientation. The economy, however, does not provide employment opportunities for them. The relatively high rate of teenage pregnancies aggravates the ‘motherhood’ problem. Schoolgirls who become pregnant and bear children are likely to find it more difficult to get satisfactory jobs and to earn enough to educate and nourish their offspring. The jobs crisis is real and getting wider and deeper. Working mothers, once they receive their wages, have to stretch and spread their earnings thinly just to afford food as expenses rise.
Children of poor mothers are likely to do worse at school and to become involved in juvenile delinquency than youngsters whose mothers are comfortable enough to stay at home to bring them up. They are more likely to drop out of primary and secondary school and will be at greater risk of unemployment as young adults after their partial or interrupted schooling
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.
Over the last 15 years, the global community has made significant progress in improving the lives of girls during early childhood. In 2015, girls in the first decade of life are more likely to enrol in primary school, receive key vaccinations, and are less likely to suffer from health and nutrition problems than previous generations. However, there has been insufficient investment in addressing the challenges girls face when they enter the second decade of their lives. This includes obtaining quality secondary and higher education, avoiding child marriage, receiving information and services related to puberty and reproductive health, and protecting themselves against unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease and gender-based violence.
As the global community launches the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for implementation over the next 15 years, it is a good time to recognise the achievements made in supporting young girls, while at the same time aspiring to support the current and upcoming generation of adolescent girls, to truly fulfil their potential as key actors in achieving a sustainable and equitable world.
President Granger has promised that over the next five years our government will remain committed to achieving the objective of building happy families and happy households throughout our country. As we celebrate International Day of the Girl Child let us remember that the struggle for equality is a national and international one. Let us join hands with our sisters in Guyana and around the world to promote greater equality for women.

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