Upliftment, empowerment and emancipation of women is a focus area the world over and has caught up in a big way in India too. For empowering women, the first step is to liberate the girl child. Girls all over, particularly in the underdeveloped and developing world, are often an underprivileged lot.
Due to cultural, sociological and at times economic reasons, they are often not given their due. This includes poor education, early marriage and other factors. In order to enable little girls to grow into empowered young women, it is essential that they be given the same rights as boys at home, school and elsewhere.
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To this end International Girl Child Day is observed with much fanfare today, i.e. on 11 October all over the world.
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The 2019 theme
This year’s theme of the International Girl Child day is GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable and is something that is rather prevalent in society today. Girls and women are rising up and doing things that are bringing about a revolution and they are propelling themselves to the skies.
It is the young girls’ grit, determination and perseverance- along with help from a few do gooders that has given them wings and is allowing them to explore. Apart from that, many of them strive to be unstoppable in whatever field they choose. One could say that they are as unscripted as can be because their tenacity allows them to excel in anything they desire.
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In India and other developing nations, the mindsets of people are changing. The girl child is now being exposed to new & more opportunities, but in the more rural areas, the situation is as bad as one can imagine.
Here’s what the government is doing to help the cause
However, there are a few schemes that are trying to help the cause. One of the most prevalent one is ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’, which is a great initiative towards curbing female infanticide and educating the girl child.
Here are a few other stratagems that are pushing the girl child to leading better lives- Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education, Scheme for Adolescent girls, Girls’ Hostel Scheme in Educationally Backward Blocks.
Knock Knock
Though these schemes are in place, not much can be done about the situation unless the mindset of people is changed. At any rate, the girl child is now more powerful than ever and with so many new avenues coming up, the future is out there for them to grab.
