As we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the International Day of the Girl. This year’s theme is “Our time is now—our rights, our future”. And a loud reminder that protecting girls’ rights is important for creating a better future and achieving gender equality globally.
Feminists, women and girls’ rights activists and other human rights defenders have made progress to protect girls’ rights and advocate for gender equality. However, African girls continue to face barriers to accessing quality education, economic opportunities and enjoying all their human rights and achieving gender equality globally. According to UNESCO, girls continue to face the greatest challenges in accessing primary school. Of the 18 African countries with fewer than 90 girls for every 100 boys enrolled, 13 are in sub-Saharan Africa. There are 16.7 million girls out of school in sub-Saharan Africa, 9.3 million of which will never set foot in a classroom. By international standards, the right to quality education is a human right.
Another challenge to girls enjoying their human rights and the global potential to achieve gender equality is the high rate of gender-based violence (GBV) across Africa. A 2022 UNICEF report shared that violence against girls has increased in the last decade. In Kenya, 28% of girls have reported having experienced physical violence since age 15 at the hands of a parent or step-parent. In Zimbabwe, 17% of girls report having experienced forced sexual intercourse or any other forced sexual acts; with 7% reporting to have experienced this violence in the past 12 months
Educating girls about GBV and sexual and reproductive health and right is an important part of protecting their rights, giving them the knowledge and information they need to claim their rights and hold abusers and leaders accountable. It is also important that the definition of GBV is expanded so that it is not limited to physical and sexual violence. GBV includes emotional abuse; genital mutilation, forced marriage, lack of access to education, lack of access to abortion and other health services and obstetric violence, to name a few. GBV violates different rights, including the right to life, freedom from violence and degrading treatment, freedom from discrimination and the right to safety and security, among others.
GBV is not just a violation of human rights but also compromises girls’ general well-being, mental health, and self-esteem.
Boys and men are usually abusers; the victims and survivors are mostly girls and women. Older people, younger girls, those with disabilities, or those from ethnic minorities or the LGBTQIA+ community are often more vulnerable to being targeted and experiencing higher rates of violence. In many countries, cultures and religions, violence from boys and men is acceptable. This means that GBV is not taken seriously, and victims are often discouraged from reporting their abuse or sharing their experiences with family or friends.
For the past decade, interest and actions towards ending GBV directed at girls and other marginalised groups have taken the form of educating, equipping and empowering girls. For example, ATHENA Network aims to end GBV by working in partnership with #WhatGirlsWant focal points to ensure that girls and young women are included in leadership positions so that they can meaningfully engage with leaders and stakeholders; we provide institutional support to girls and young women-led organisations so that they can lead anti-GBV interventions and programmes, and working with them to amplify their voices and sharing their experiences. However, ending GBV needs to be a joint effort from communities, civil society and leaders. Ending GBV needs to include teaching boys and men to respect girls’ rights, showing them how their actions are harmful and changing their mindsets.
As we work towards protecting the rights of girls, we need to make sure that we do not teach girls they are less important than boys or men and that their voices do not matter. We need to ask ourselves how gender inequalities are taught at home, in communities and at school. What interventions do we need to change boys’ and men’s mentalities to ensure that they understand that they have no right to abuse girls? And, what accountability should look like for young boys who are abusers? We need radical anti-violence action that involves boys and men to make sure that it is everyone’s problem and not just something that affects girls. We need proactive solutions and strategies instead of just being reactive.
Harmful cultural and religious practices keep violence against girls alive. Intersectional feminist approaches to ending violence include looking at why girls experience violence, what different violence they experience and what needs to be done to create environments where they are free from violence and their rights are protected.
Boys need positive role modelling on positive masculinities, ongoing mentorship, and the support and space to unlearn violent behaviour. Through such programmes, boys will be taught to reject behaviours and cultures that encourage violence. Boys need to be taught that they do not need to be violent to be a man, that they are allowed to show their emotions and that doing that does not make them weak and that gender equality and protecting girls’ rights creates a better world for them too. This is how we can create a culture that promotes long-term and effective changes to improve the lives of girls.