GirlForce: Unstoppable

Today is International Day of the Girl.

The United Nations 2019 theme for International Day of the Girl
is GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable.

Today, girls’ movements are stopping child marriage, promoting girls’ education, standing up against gender-based violence, demanding action on climate change, tackling issues of self-esteem, and standing up for girls’ rights to enter temples or public spaces during menstruation. Girls are also engaging with municipalities to advocate for financial investments in their communities and for truly inclusive development that recognize their needs.

“Because I was brave enough to convince my parents to let me go to school instead of getting married, I’m able to do what I love the most – study!”
Janaki Sah, 14, from Nepal

There are, though, still formidable forces attempting to script girls and/or stop them. So much progress has been made to push back those walls but they’ve yet to completely come down. The determination and potential is there.

To find out more about how you can support girls and get involved, please read the GirlForce action plan here.

Twenty-five years ago more than 30,000 women from 200 countries arrived in Beijing for the World Conference on Women determined to recognize the rights of women and girls as human rights. What started as global women’s movements campaigning for sexual and reproductive health rights, political participation and equal pay, to name a few, expanded to movements organized by and for adolescent girls.

Girls are proving they are unscripted and unstoppable.

For this year’s International Day of the Girl (October 11), we are working alongside and supporting all girls to amplify their voices and stand up for their rights. Under the theme, “GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable”, International Day of the Girl will celebrate achievements by, with and for girls since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and passage of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.