International Girl Child Day: Why this celebration is so important?

A girl is as special as a boy. The nature has given equal importance to both of them. There is no need to tell all of this to an educated, civilized, and cultured person but even today in the society where we live gender equality is not easily accepted. And there is no explanation needed to support this claim as even today women are exploited at all levels.

International Girl Child Day is celebrated on October 11 the world over to make people realise that protecting, nurturing, and caring for the overall development of girl children is very important if humanity wants to sustain itself on this planet. In many states in India even today a girl child is considered a curse because dowry as a custom is demanded by the groom’s side at the wedding .

It is no news for the Indians that in many villages in North India, newborn girl infants are killed immediately when they are born without much knowledge of anyone around because no one wants to take the liability of raising a girl as girls in these communities are considered a curse, a stigma who will bring bad luck.

With changing times, people at least in the urban areas have a different viewpoint when it comes to raising girls. Educated and working parents consider girls at par with their sons and help them make good careers and stand on their feet. Even then exploitation of women in workplaces both in the public and corporate sectors continues. Every other day you hear young girls getting misused, touched inappropriately and raped.

That is why celebrating International Girl Child Day is necessary to create awareness about how it is not only important for girls to live but it is equally important to treat them with great respect and that men should consider them at par with themselves.