Updated: October 1, 2024
The United Nations marks October 11 as the International Day of the Girl since 2012. International Day of the Girl focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights.
United Nations
International Day of the Girl Child
The 2024 International Day of the Girl theme is “Girls’ vision for the future”.
This year’s theme conveys both the need for urgent action and persistent hope, driven by the power of girls’ voices and vision for the future.
Today’s generation of girls is disproportionately affected by global crises of climate, conflict, poverty and pushback on hard won gains for human rights and gender equality. Too many girls are still denied their rights, restricting their choices and limiting their futures.
Yet, recent analysis shows that girls are not only courageous in the face of crisis, but hopeful for the future. Every day, they are taking action to realize a vision of a world in which all girls are protected, respected and empowered.
But girls cannot realize this vision alone. They need allies who listen to and respond to their needs.
With the right support, resources and opportunities, the potential of the world’s more than 1.1 billion girls is limitless. And when girls lead, the impact is immediate and wide reaching: families, communities and economies are all stronger, our future brighter.
It is time to listen to girls, to invest in proven solutions that will accelerate progress towards a future in which every girl can fulfill her potential.
UNICEF
Five game-changing solutions with and for adolescent girls: A partnership brief
For Every Girl
1. health services that protect against cervical cancer, HIV, and maternal mortality
2. a life free from malnutrition and anemia
3. a quality education that provides learning, relevant skills, and agency to chart her own course
4. safety and freedom from violence and harmful practices
5. economic support to expand opportunities and the power to determine her future
Adolescent girls’ rights
Discrimination shows up in countless ways across every country and culture. But no matter where you look, one group stands universally more likely to suffer exclusion based simply on how they’re born: Girls.
What needs to happen
Thirty years after 189 Governments endorsed the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the world must follow through on its promise to ensure every girl has the chance to fulfill her potential.
UNICEF is calling on governments and the international community to:
– invest more to protect adolescent girls’ rights and scale up programs to meet their unique needs.
– ensure adolescent girls have a seat at the table to help shape the policies that affect their lives.
– challenge harmful gender norms and stereotypes by recognizing girls as equal and spotlighting their roles as leaders, innovators and changemakers.
– support civil society and elevate the voices of allies and defenders of girls’ rights in our communities.
Information for activists
Activists around the globe are calling on leaders to deliver on the 2030 promise. From guaranteeing girls’ education, to banning female genital mutilation, an entire generation is speaking out for one another – for girls they’ve never met, in places they’ve never been. Here are some of the issues they’re tackling: gender equality, girls’ education, female genital mutilation, child marriage, menstrual hygiene, and sexual violence against children.
UNICEF’s 2021 Generation Equality Forum – Tech Trailblazers, Teen Girl Activists, Coping with COVID-19, and Girls’ Satellites
UN Women
Thirty years of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: Achieving gender equality, the rights and empowerment of women and girls
Girls – leading from the front of their future
Visit UN Women In Focus webpages for past International Day of the Girl Child information:
2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012
UNESCO
Strategy for gender equality in and through education 2019-2025
Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education
International Day of the Girl – Girl Scouts
What Girl Activists Across the World Are Calling For In 2024 – Plan International
17 kids’ books to celebrate International Day of the Girl – Motherly
Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriages – Girls Not Brides
Zonta International is a leading global organization of individuals working together to build a better world for women and girls.
Zonta is dedicated to achieving gender equality in education and supports scholarships, fellowships and awards for women and girls pursuing education and careers in these traditionally male-dominated fields.
– Amelia Earhart Fellowship
– Women in Business Scholarship
– Women in STEM Scholarship
– Young Women in Leadership (formerly Young Women in Public Affairs) Award
Zonta International partners include UNFPA, UNICEF USA, Girls Not Brides, Coalition to End Violence Against Women and Girls Globally and Women’s Empowerment Principles.
Zonta Club of Greater Queens, a member club of Zonta International, has supported the Center for the Women of New York over the years.