The United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 on December 19, 2011, to declare 11 October as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world. The International Day of the Girl Child focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights.

FORUM: International Day of the Girl Child 2020, “My Voice, Our Equal Future”.

Progress for adolescent girls has not kept pace with the realities they face today, and COVID-19 has reinforced many of these gaps. This year, under the theme, “My Voice, Our Equal Future”, let’s seize the opportunity to be inspired by what adolescent girls see as the change they want, the solutions- big and small- they are leading and demanding across the globe.

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

Statement by the U.N. Secretary General on International Day of the Girl Child 2020, October 11th.

This year, we mark the International Day of the Girl against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, and resurgent movements for social justice.

As we strengthen the response to the pandemic and plan for a strong recovery, we have an opportunity to create a better, fairer, more equal world for girls everywhere. The best way to achieve this is by following the leadership of girls themselves.

This year’s theme, “My Voice: Our Equal Future” calls on us to amplify the voices of adolescent girls, and put their needs at the forefront of laws, policies and practices in every country and community around the world.

The gaps between girls and boys remain unacceptably wide. Adolescent girls are locked out of opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), not for lack of talent or ambition — but because they are girls. Globally, the percentage of women among graduates in these subjects is below 15 percent in over two-thirds of countries.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Generation Equality is our global campaign and call to commit to working with and for girls, everywhere.

We must support girls by giving them access to the tools they need to shape their own destinies. That includes the technological skills, connectivity and safety they need to thrive in a digital world.

We can all draw inspiration from the adolescent girls who are taking the lead and shaping better lives for themselves — and for others.

Teenage girls are the new leaders of our time, creating global movements for change. They’re ready for the challenge.

On this International Day of the Girl, let’s stand together with them and for them.

Let’s nourish their talents, amplify their voices and work together for a better, more equal future for us all.

António Guterres. United Nations Secretary-General.

Statement from Ms Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of International Day of the Girl Child , 11 October 2020.

On this International Day, we celebrate and honour the millions of girls around the world who surmount the barriers of inequality and manage to break free from the prejudices to which they have too often been confined. In order to become a reality, the aspiration for equality, which is at the heart of this Day, is developed and acquired first at school.

Mobilizing for girls’ education means ensuring that millions of girls can define, not endure, their future. It means standing up for a fundamental right. It also means working for what former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, considered to be the most effective tool for the development of our societies. This fundamental right, however, may be jeopardized by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the 767 million girls confined to their homes at the peak of the crisis, deprived of the meals and support offered by their schools, found themselves at greater risk of forced marriage, domestic violence and early pregnancy. In several countries, gender-based sexual violence, for example, increased by as much as 30 per cent.

At a time when 11 million girls may never return to the emancipatory path of education– when 130 million girls were already out of school before the pandemic – we need to mobilize more than ever.

That is why, at the height of the COVID-19 crisis, UNESCO launched the Global Education Coalition, bringing together nearly 150 partners and acting in 70 countries. This enabled us to launch, for example, a global communication campaign to support the return of girls to school. Such mobilization is essential in order not to lose the ground gained over the past 25 years, since the 1995 Beijing Declaration.

Indeed, as shown in the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report focusing on gender equality, which we are releasing on this International Day, 180 million girls have accessed primary or secondary education since 1995; and in higher education, the number of female students has even tripled in the last 25 years.

Our latest report does not, however, ignore the many gender inequalities that remain– for example, in rural areas of the least developed countries, only two percent of girls manage to complete a full secondary education. That is why UNESCO, for many years, has poured all its energy into this fight for equality. In this context, our initiative “Her education, our future” continues to produce its effects. By promoting better data and better public policies, and sharing best educational practices, it aims to defeat gender inequalities at the roots.

In order to build a more just and prosperous world, UNESCO would therefore like to call on everyone

– States, regional organizations and civil society

– to make gender equality a daily commitment and a requirement.

Ms Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO.

CAMPAIGN; In 2020, we commemorate 25 years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – the global agenda for advancing the rights and empowerment of women and girls, everywhere. Generation Equality was also launched in early 2020 as a multi-year, multi-partner campaign and movement for bold action on gender equality. A clear narrative and actions related to the needs and opportunities of adolescent girls and their solutions is central to the Generation Equality mission.

Ways to get involved

• Share stories of inspiring adolescent girls or girl-led organizations who are developing innovative solutions or leading efforts towards positive social change, including gender equality, in their communities and nations. Let’s amplify their leadership, actions and impact to inspire others.

• Participate in a youth-led digital activation launching on International Day of the Girl. Young people across the world are developing a digital activism campaign, aiming to raise the diversity of girls’ voices and their vision for a reimagined future.

Webinars Series

A New Era for Girls: Taking stock of 25 years of progress

Five actions for gender equality in the COVID-19 response

Investing in the pathways to employment