International Day of the Girl Child

Photo: UN Women/Janarbek Amankulov
Photo: UN Women/Janarbek Amankulov

Fast facts | Stories | Social media

On International Day of the Girl Child (11 October), themed “With Her: A Skilled Girl Force”, join UN Women as we stand with girls everywhere as they inspire, innovate and take charge of their own future.

The 1.1 billion girls of today’s world are challenging the status quo. They’re redefining girlhood, and they’re doing so against the odds.

Across the world, girls face adversities that hinder their education, training and entry into the workforce.They have less access to information, communication technology and resources, such as the internet where the global gender gap is growing.

A quarter of young people, most of them girls, are neither employed nor getting an education or training.

This year alone, 12 million girls under 18 will be married, and 21 million girls aged 15 to 19 years will become pregnant in developing regions.

And yet, they persist, they succeed. They are innovating technology to solve global challenges, they are standing up for the environment, they are raising their voices against violence and they are preparing to run for office.

Fast facts

By the age of 6, girls already consider boys more likely of showing signs of being more suited to "really really smart" activities than their own gender
Young women are more likely to be unemployed in large parts of the world
In developed countries, 94% of youth aged 15-24 use the internet. In developing countries, 67% of youth aged 15-24 use the internet

Top stories

Presentation of the fairy tale book "Once There was a Girl"; Photo: UN Women/Maka Gogaladze

Fairy tale collection “Once There was a Girl“

Dilera Mavlonova. Photo: UN Women/Dildora Khamidova

“The voices of women and girls are completely absent in water management“

Video

Fairy tale collection “Once There was a Girl” - A gift for children from UN Women
Children begin adopting gender stereotypes at an early age and fairy tales – a child’s first introduction to the world – can help in raising children with the right value system including believing in gender equality. This video shows 2 Georgian writers who contributed to UN Women’s collection of fairy tales named “There once was a girl”, asking children questions related to the main themes of the fairy tales. The answers by the children show prevailing stereotypes, and in some cases, the opposite.


Social media

Let’s invest in the education and skillsets of girls to set them on a path to achieve their greatest potential in their future jobs.

Join the conversation using #dayofthegirl #GenUnlimited (English); #díadelaniña (Spanish); #journéedelafille (French)

A social media package with graphics and suggested messages in multiple languages is available here

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See our In Focus pages for International Day of the Girl Child in the past: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012