In 2012, the United Nations declared October 11 the International Day of the Girl (IDG) to “Promote the empowerment of young girls everywhere, while also advocating for the achievement of their basic human rights, such as education and bodily autonomy.” The theme for 2022 is “Our Time is Now – Our Rights, Our Future”. And for those already asking about the boy? Isn’t he important? Doesn’t he deserve a day? Let me say this: yes, every human is important. Our boys as well as girls, but across the developing world in particular, girls face more structural challenges to achieving their dreams than boys, face more threats of violence and generally live in more vulnerable situations than boys. So a day like this forces everyone – policymakers, governments, parents, society – to reckon with the kind of world girls are inheriting and to be intentional about doing better. And by the way, some professors in Trinidad and Tobago declared May 16 the World Day of the Boy Child (WDBC) in 2019 because he was salty that he didn’t have one. He – and anyone else whose instinct is to not accept that we should do better by our daughters – misses the point of why IDG had to be declared in the first place. Imitation is not always the sincerest form of flattery. Sometimes, it’s a distraction. My Naija people, our boys matter but also our girls. And their case is critical.
In many of our homes, outdated gender roles are used to keep girls cleaning and cooking, preparing them to be “someone’s wife,” while boys are allowed to hang out and watch TV, in training to be someone else’s burden. Boys are given time to study and are allowed to occupy the spaces their sisters are denied. Someone told me recently that when she asks her daughters to help her in the kitchen, she teaches them ‘discipline’. Boys don’t need discipline? Okay, yes.
Not only are our girls more likely to be burdened with household chores, they also represent a greater number of our out-of-school children. According to a report by Malala.org, about six million Naija girls are out of school. Apparently, 30 percent of our girls between the ages of 9 and 12 have never even seen the four walls of a classroom. This is shocking. If education/knowledge is power, then we are not equipping these girls for any kind of useful future. Even those who are lucky enough to be in schools, in some cases are dealing with outdated programs. Don’t get me started on the primary school lessons I heard on a Naija broadcast station during the jam. Tufiakwa!
In any case, not only are there more Nigerian girls out of school than boys, according to a UNICEF report, Nigeria has the highest number of child ‘brides’ on the continent. According to the 2020 UN development report, 43 percent of Nigerian women (22 – 23 million) aged 20 to 24 were married by age 18. As far as I’m concerned, marriage is a contract between consenting adults. A child cannot consent and, therefore, cannot be a spouse. These young ‘brides’ are victims of a sex crime and society is failing them by allowing grown men to claim them as wives. When girls are empowered to stay in school longer, they are less likely to be forced into these sham marriages.
Furthermore, Nigerian girls experience more physical and sexual abuse than boys. A study by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) reveals that nearly 3 in 10 Naija women experience physical violence by the time they turn 15 years old. What about sexual abuse? Where does one begin? Talk to any Naija woman who grew up in Nigeria. These stories are many. Drivers, pastors, cousins, uncles, friends, teachers, doctors, houseboys etc who sexually abuse young girls because the culture makes it easy for sexual predators to act without fear of being reported. I recently heard about some really rich Nigerian girls – I forget who now – who blogged about their family’s driver touching them inappropriately while taking them to school. They never reported it because they somehow felt responsible, shouldering the shame. Instead, they found ways to protect themselves from his evil touch, including all of them sitting in the back of the car, out of his reach.
If children are our future, then we really need to invest in protecting our girls by making it easier for victims of sexual assault to report their assault. The prevailing culture of victim blaming and shaming (I’ve written about this before) enables the silence that allows this crime to thrive. More work also needs to be done to sensitize young people to the seriousness of sexual assault and to dismantle the narrative that sexual harassment is harmless and that men rape because they cannot control themselves. Shebi these men know not to put food up their noses? Do they know not to put pottery on their plates?
Our government should also be pressured to invest in the education of our sons and daughters. After all, when life improves for our daughters, it improves for our sons as well. UNESCO recommends that countries allocate 15-26 percent of their national budget to education. In 2020, Nigeria shared only 6.7 percent. This year it shared 7.9 percent. An improvement, but still below UNESCO’s recommended standard. So there’s a lot of room for improvement there.
As everyone knows that anything that benefits the girl also benefits the boy, and therefore society benefits. So let’s all work – government and individuals – to empower our girls so that the future is bright for all of us. Church, say Amen!
