Every year on October 11th, the International Day of the Girl is honored. It was first observed in 2012 to raise awareness about gender inequality and to fight for the rights and empowerment of girls. The International Day of the Girl Child draws attention to the importance of addressing the issues that girls experience, as well as promoting girls’ empowerment and the realization of their human rights.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres advocated investing in girls’ leadership to help them achieve their goals and increase gender equality, saying, “Women and girls can lead us to a fairer future…let us amplify girls’ voices, and recommit to work together to build a world where every girl can lead and thrive.”
Date of the 2023 International Day of the Girl
Every year on October 11th, the International Day of the Girl is honored.
Theme for International Day of the Girl 2023
“Invest in Girls’ Rights: Our Leadership, Our Well-Being” is the theme of the International Day of the Girl 2023.
History of the International Day of the Girl in 2023
Countries overwhelmingly accepted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action at the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing, the most progressive plan yet for furthering the rights of not only women but also girls. According to the UN, the Beijing Declaration is the first to explicitly include girls’ rights.
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted Resolution 66/170 on December 19, 2011, designating October 11 as International Day of the Girl Child to recognize girls’ rights and the specific problems that girls confront across the world.
The Importance of the International Day of the Girl Child in 2023
The UN said that girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy existence not just during their formative years, but also as they evolve into women.
“If effectively supported through the adolescent years, girls have the potential to change the world – both as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s entrepreneurs, workers, mentors, mothers, household heads, and political leaders.”
An investment in empowering adolescent girls protects their rights today while also promising a more equitable and prosperous future in which half of humanity is an equal partner in addressing climate change, political conflict, economic growth, disease prevention, and global sustainability, according to the UN.
Gender equality and women’s empowerment are central to all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by world leaders in 2015 as part of the Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030. Only by protecting the rights of women and girls across all goals can we achieve justice and inclusion, inclusive economies, and a sustainable shared environment for current and future generations.
