Yes, this blog is about another special “International Day of…” event. I’ve recently written about the UN International Day of Peace and Mental Illness Awareness Week. But this week, on October 11 to be exact, the UN will mark the world’s first International Day of the Girl and that’s worth writing about.

The www.dayofthegirl.org website explains why society needs this (content in italics):

History shows that it hasn’t ever been easy to be a girl, and, despite awesome changes in the status and perception of women and girls, herstory is still a complicated and challenging one.

There are a billion reasons why we need the Day of the Girl, but let’s start with just a few facts:

ILLITERACY – By 2015, females will make up 64% of the world’s (adult) population who cannot read.

FORCED MARRIAGE – One in seven girls in developing countries is married off before age 15.

VIOLENCE – One in 5 high school girls has been physically or sexually abused by a dating partner. Worldwide children as young as age 11 are forced to work as prostitutes. Some estimates have as many as 1.2 million children being trafficked every year.

BODY IMAGE – More than half (54%) of 3rd-5th grade girls worry about their appearance and 37% worry about their weight. More than half (57%) of music videos feature a female portrayed exclusively as a decorative, sexual object.”

Few Female Role Models

  • Fortune 500 Companies Chief Executive Officers – Only 3% are women.
  • Top Positions in Media (entertainment, advertising, telecommunications) – Only 3%
  • Hollywood Top Filmmakers – Only 5%
  • US Senate – Out of 100 Senators, only 17 are women
  • School Superintendents – Only 24%, even though most teachers are female
  • Mayors – Only 8 women run the largest 100 cities

So, here are 10 things each of us (men and women) can do to improve opportunities, self-esteem and awareness for girls right here in our communities:

1. Actively mentor girls. Offer to help at a local high school, with a youth group or with a high-school co-op program.

2. Speak out against sexist comments, advertising and assumptions about women. Oppression and inferiority jokes aren’t funny — they mask an underlying belief.

3. Support education for young women by giving to charities, endowments and other funding agencies that focus on women’s and girls’ learning and capacity building.

4. Help girls understand their rights and the power of saying no. No means no, whether it’s about sex or getting in a car with a drunk or anything else they don’t want to do.

5. Speak out against anti-choice legislation. A girl’s understanding of her potential needs to start with her (and everyone else) understanding that only she is in charge of her own body and her life choices.

6. Help girls understand their value in society. Ensure they get access to every opportunity made available to boys and the self-esteem to believe they deserve it.

7. Eliminate the tyranny of perfection by letting girls know that it’s okay to make mistakes along the way — some of our best discoveries and lessons have come from “failures”.

8. Raise your daughters to be self-reliant by helping them develop practical and tactical life skills.

9. Teach girls to be critical, logical thinkers. Girls often feel judged solely by their appearance. With strong critical thinking, they’ll look past that to understand so much more about themselves and their world.

10. Help girls cherish their individuality while embracing their place in the community. Let girls know that there are as many ways to be women as there are women in the world.

Lastly, simply love, support and encourage the girls and young women in your life to reach their full potential, by teaching them that they are equal, worthy, respected and loved. When girls become women who truly believe this, then all of society will benefit.

~ Maureen Douglas

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