The failure of democracy

EVERY year on October 11, the International Day of the Girl Child is celebrated with the primary aim being to educate and raise awareness about the rights of the girl child. The day is marked and punctuated by a gamut of events, conferences and discussions on issues bordering on child marriages, violence against women and access to education by the girl child.

This opinion piece seeks to submit that the International Day of the Girl Child should be rethought, rejigged, retooled, remodelled and refashioned to reflect the need to promote, protect and respect the diverse needs, rights and requirements of both girls and boys, because the lived experiences of the girl children are deeply intersectional, mutually constitutive and reciprocal with those of the boy children and other primary socialisers of gender roles.

This story is for NewsDay subscribers.