International Day of the Girl Child

Here's a terrific video (2:02) from 2018:

And this is from 2019:

 

BUT DID YOU KNOW?

• Worldwide, nearly 1 in 4 girls aged 15–19 years is neither employed nor in education or training compared to 1 in 10 boys of the same age. By 2021 around 435 million women and girls will be living on less than $1.90 a day — including 47 million pushed into poverty as a result of COVID-19.
• 1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence. Emerging data shows that since the outbreak of COVID-19, violence against women and girls (VAWG), and particularly domestic violence, has INTENSIFIED.
• At least 60% of countries still discriminate against daughters’ rights to inherit land and non-land assets in either law or practice.

 

As adolescent girls worldwide assert their power as change-makers, International Day of the Girl 2020 will focus on their demands to:

• Live free from gender-based violence, harmful practices, and HIV and AIDS
• Learn new skills towards the futures they choose
• Lead as a generation of activists accelerating social change

So, why is education for girls so important around the world?

Here's what the World Bank says:

“Investing in girls’ education may well be the highest return investment in the developing world.”

TODAY - you are particularly invited to pray:

that, across all faiths and cultures, women and girls would be seen as made in the image of God, with equal worth and value as men and boys;

for protection of the girl child -whether that be in terms of gender selective abortion, female genital mutilation and forced marriages;

for decision makers - in churches, institutions and governments - to smash the glass ceilings that prevent girls from enjoying full equality.

And we ask our smiling saint - that champion of girls' education and well-being - 

St. Julie: pray for us, protect us and bless us.