National Girl Child Day was started back in 2008 by the Ministry of Women and Child with the aim of highlighting the inequalities faced by girls at many levels in our society.
The purpose behind celebrating this day is to create awareness on a number of topics like rights of a girl child, importance of education, proper nutrition and health.
The day demands that people must acknowledge the problems which prevent the girl child from exercising her basic rights and find ways to contribute as much as they can to the solution.
Even when daughters were born, they were pushed into the fire of child marriage. Since the independence of the country, the Government of India had been trying against discrimination between daughters and sons, against the atrocities faced by them.
In order to improve the condition of girls, the Indian government has taken several steps over the years such as Save the Girl Child, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, free or subsidised education for the girl children, reservations for women in colleges and universities.
Theme of National Girl Child Day 2022:
Though the theme for National Girl Day is yet to be announced, the theme for t Girl Child Day 2021 was ‘Digital Generation, Our Generation, and the theme of Girl’s Day in the year 2020 was ‘My voice, our common future.
Directives for National Girl Child Day:
-Celebrate the birth of a girl child in the family and community.
-Take pride in daughters and oppose the mentality of ‘Bojh’ and ‘Paraya Dhan’.
-Find ways to promote equality between boys and girls.
-Secure admission to & retention of girl child in schools.
-Engage men and boys to challenge gender stereotypes and roles.
-Educate and sensitize our sons to respect women and girls as equal members of society.
-Report any incident of gender determination test
-Strive to make the neighborhood safe & violence-free for women & girls.
-Oppose dowry and child marriage within the family and community.
-Advocate simple weddings.
-Support women’s right to own and inherit property.
-Encourage women to go out, pursue higher studies, work, do business, access public spaces freely etc.
-Mind his language and be sensitive to women and girls.
