Last Saturday, on the 11th October, the International Day of the Girl Child was celebrated. This date was established to recognise girls’ rights and the challenges they face worldwide. The celebration of this day was adopted on the 19th December 2011 by the United Nations General Assembly with Resolution 66/170 [1].

The 2025 International Day of the Girl theme is: ‘The girl I am, the change I lead: Girls on the frontline of crisis’. Girls are requesting to be valued not only for the challenges they face, but also for the solutions they bring [1]. Girls such as Greta Thunberg fight for climate change and demand an end to violence. Malala Yousafzai advocated for the right to education of women in her native district, Swat, where the Pakistani Taliban had banned girls from attending schools. However, in contrast to these cases, often the actions, needs and rights of other girls are ignored.

Girls are not waiting for a better world; they are building it today, 30 years after the Beijing Declaration [2] and Platform for Action, for advancing women’s rights. Girls have made significant achievements in education, health, and rights, but many inequalities still persist. The International Day of the Girl Child aims not only to highlight the challenges faced by girls but also to promote their empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights.  Educational models focused on breaking gender stereotypes, encouraging girls to be more assertive, adventurous and independent since infancy  [3] should be implemented worldwide. Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is cross-cutting to each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Only by ensuring the rights of women and girls across all these goals will we get to justice, inclusion and sustainability [1].

References

1. UN. (2025). International Day of the Girl Child. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/observances/girl-child-day

2. Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Beijing +5 Political Declaration and Outcome, (2015).

3.Hjallastefnan. (2025). The Hjalli Model. Retrieved from https://www.hjallimodel.com/