All the Violence Against Girls is a Symptom

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Autumn Pasquale, Day of the Girl, Hina Khan, Jessica Ridgeway, Malala Yousafzai, violence against girls

There is a worldwide femicide going on against girls, where girls are being killed just for being girls, but the violence is a symptom of how our world views women and girls. In order to stop the violence, we must make significant lasting change about how we see girls.

Writing about ten and twelve year old girls being brutally killed and threatened is not only heartbreaking, but it’s also horrifying. Until it stops, it is necessary. But, believe me, I would rather read and write about how girls are progressing in school or about some of the amazing things they are doing.

Following are the names of four girls. Two are dead, one is in a hospital, and the other’s life has been threatened.

Autumn Pasquale- Just the other day, 12 year old Autumn was lured by a teenage boy into his house under the guise of getting parts for her bicycle and then, with his older brother, killed her.

Jessica Ridegeway- She was a ten year old murdered and dismembered by an older teenager who recently came forward to admit he did it.

Malala Yousafzai is the 15 year old Pakistani girl who blogged and spoke out about how the Taliban has closed down schools and continues to keep girls from getting education. They shot her about two weeks ago. Luckily she was airlifted to a hospital in Britain, the bullet removed from her head, and she is recovering.

Hina Khan is a girl, believed to be 16 years old, whose house was graffitied with a red X, which she says is from the Taliban warning about her speaking out for girls’ education. She has also received death threats like Malala.

These girls are only a few examples of how violence is affecting us all, especially girls and women. Lives of girls aren’t valued. Women’s lives aren’t valued. Girls and women are so objectified by the media, by the laws passed restricting rights, and by messages given by politicians and churches about girls’ and women’s bodies and lives. When girls and women are objectified, we are seen as NOT human and violence against us goes up.

If we want to save our girls and women, we must begin to de-objectify them. We must see girls and women as people.

Of course we do that, you say. But do we? Girls are paraded around like dolls for TV reality shows, they are given messages on all extremes: they should show off their bodies because they are only valued for them, they should cover themselves up, they should save themselves until they’re married, they should have sex, they should be thin, fat is ugly, they are not as smart as boys,… the list goes on.

We must teach girls to value themselves. We must value girls. We must value women. Women need to be able to make decisions for their own bodies. Women need to be paid equally to men. Women need to be able to have childcare options. Women need to be able to have healthcare and access to it.

Girls need to see that they are valued. They need to see the women they will grow into are valued. Girls being hurt and threatened is a symptom of the larger problem. If we want to save our girls, save our women, we must value them.

For these girls and all girls and women who have been victims of violence, let’s change this system that puts girls and women at risk!

Malala Yousafzai: The 14 year old the Taliban fears

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girls education, Malala Yousafzai, politics, women, women's rights

If you haven’t heard of Malala yet, please listen up because she’s a fourteen year old hero. She is a Pakistani young woman who was intentionally shot and critically wounded last week by the Taliban as she headed home from school in the north-west Swat Valley. She was airlifted to Britain for medical treatment where they removed a bullet from her skull and where she is still recovering.

Malala wrote a blog about girls education being banned by the Taliban and sticking up for the rights of girls and women to have education. The Taliban has threatened to target her again until she is killed. They are doing everything they can to make her look like she was a bad seed and against Pakistan and the Muslim faith. Women in Pakistan and worldwide stand behind Malala, but they are being shut down. Malala and those who support her stand for truth and the rights of women.

Does female education matter? Yes!

When women are educated they are more able to ask questions and to make decisions about their health and fertility. They are more likely to stand up against violence being perpetrated against them and more able to assert their legal rights.

Where so many young women and men take education for granted, they drop out of school or don’t want to go or don’t take it seriously, it’s hard to imagine a world where the right is taken away. But it’s real.

This is about girls and women being able to live full lives.

Malala stands up for a world of people who are scared by the big bullies who believe women should not have rights. Malala will be safer and stronger, we all will, when anyone who wants women and girls to be second class citizens is stopped.

The situation is extreme in Pakistan but it is going in a similar direction in the rest of the world as well. Women must have equal rights to men, over their bodies, healthcare, equal pay, right to education, and right to their lives.

Stand with Malala. The more who are for her, the sooner women will be given equal rights to education, opportunities, and life.

International Day of the GIRL

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#International Day of the Girl, #WarOnWomen, Day of the Girl, feminism, gender stereotypes, girls education, Malala Yousafzai

Today is International Day of the Girl! It’s the first one of them and there are thoughts out there, you might even be thinking them, like: We have an “International Day” for everything. Boss day. Dog day. Ice cream Day. Where does it end?

And shouldn’t we remember, protect, educate, support, and empower girls every day?
My vote would be YES- but we don’t.

School Girls Unite, an organization of students and young women leaders determined to advance the UN Millennium Development Goals related to gender equality and universal basic education, and other human rights issues, campaigned in the U.S. for this day.

“The Day of the Girl is about highlighting, celebrating, discussing, and advancing girls lives and opportunities across the globe and about challenging and changing gender stereotypes, discrimination, and opportunity.” October 11 has been officially claimed as the International Day of the Girl and they say it’s not just a day but a movement. 

This First day of the Girl, there is a focus on Girls education, the eradication of child marriages and looking at the ways inequality hurts girls worldwide. There is a fight to keep girls uneducated and subservient and this is part of the battle against that. It affects girls in every realm. On average, girls who are educated get married later, have fewer children, and are at less risk of getting HIV.

Just recently the Taliban shot and took responsibility for the shooting of a 14-year-old Pakistani girl, Malala Yousufzai, who attends school and wrote online about the value of educating girls. They sought her out and gunned her down, not just to shut her up, but to silence others who see what happens when you speak out. Horrifying!

Girls who can are fighting back. Day of the Girl is to support them, to remember them, to raise awareness about the value of girls education and rights.

International Day of the Girl is to counter gender based violence and discrimination. We must do this every day, but we also need a reminder in our societies to do it. This can be that reminder, one driving force, one glimmer of support and hope.

Girls and Women moving forward. The world pushes forward with them. Happy International Day of the Girl!