It’s International Day of the Girl Child: Let’s celebrate modern female role models!

It’s International Day of the Girl Child, and people are celebrating the developments we have seen in women’s rights across the globe. While there has been evidence of promising progress, there is still a long way to go in providing girls in developing and developed countries alike with equal opportunities to their male counterparts.

International Day of the Girl Child was designed by the UN to raise awareness on issues of gender inequality faced by girls around the world every day; including issues of child marriage, female genital mutilation, and a lack of educational opportunities. It is also an opportunity to celebrate female leaders and modern day role models that our young girls (and boys!) can look up to for inspiration.

While there are many inspiring female role models in history and even literature, there is also a plethora of modern day women doing amazing work around the globe that we should encourage our children (both girls and boys!) to look up to. With the increasing dominance of social media and celebrity culture, you can argue that some young people often overlook current gender issues and those working to combat them.

We have women like Emma Watson and Angelina Jolie, who have used their celebrity following, kindness and intelligence to help combat gender inequality, providing an amazing example for young people to follow. There are activists like Malala Yousafzai and Berta Caceres who have made great personal and physical sacrifices to stand up for their rights and what they believe in. There are political figures like Michelle Obama and Aung San Suu Kyi who have stood up for democracy and equality despite constant challenges from opponents. And the list certainly doesn’t stop there…

You don’t always have to look afar for female role models, sometimes the hard work put in by those who surround you is enough. Teachers, parents, friends, even the local lollipop lady, can all give us little bits of inspiration every day to achieve our goals and work together to fight inequality. While the world has taken great steps to fight gender inequality, the progress is still slower than many would like. It is down to strong female and male role models across the world to inspire more to take action against gender inequality, maybe then we would see a world without child marriage, and instead, every girl and boy in education.