October 11th every year is marked as the International Day of the Girl Child. The International Day of the Girl Child is a day set aside to reflect on issues affecting the girl child across the world.
The 2024 theme is “Girls’ Vision for the Future” which is a call for urgent action and persistent hope, driven by the power of girls’ voices and vision for the future.
To mark International Day of the Girl Child which takes place this Friday, we are using this week’s newsletter to highlight some issues facing Nigeria’s girl children with the GIRL-CHILD acronym.
Let’s start from the beginning, with the letter G.
GENITAL MUTILATION
Female genital mutilation (FGM) refers to ‘‘all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.” Female Genital Mutilation is a violation of girls’ and women’s human rights. In Nigeria, there are more Female Genital Mutilation cases compared to males. About 57% of females were circumcised compared to 54% of the males. This is a barbaric practice that must stop.
INHERITANCE
While developing countries continue to improve economic opportunities for women, inheritance laws remain strongly biased against women and girls in many societies, including Nigeria.
For instance, parental bequests of material wealth and human capital investments represent central forms of intergenerational transfers that affect long-term development in far-reaching ways.
At low levels of development, land is a key asset and an essential source of livelihood. Unsurprisingly, societies have long developed rules to govern how land is transferred across generations. Women in many developing countries face legal barriers preventing them from inheriting property.
In Nigeria, only 7.7% of women aged 20-49 solely own land, compared with 36% of men, according to World Bank research which references various demographic and health surveys in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2010 and 2016.
The ability to own and inherit land is an important driver of economic prosperity. Such a big gap between men and women in Nigeria regarding land ownership suggests systemic economic disparities that will affect efforts at improving gender equality.
RAPE
A child who is the victim of prolonged sexual abuse usually develops low self-esteem, a feeling of worthlessness and an abnormal or distorted view of sex. The child may become withdrawn and mistrustful of adults and can become suicidal.
Violence Against Women and Girls is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in the world. One in three women experience physical, sexual or intimate-partner violence, are victims of trafficking, or are subject to violent social norms.
Between 2017-2020, the Sexual Assault Referrals Centers (SARC) recorded an increasing number of gender-based violence incidents in Nigeria.
LACK OF EDUCATION
In Nigeria, there is a growing number of out-of-school children in the country. According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), education is an entitlement of every child regardless of gender.
There are 3.9 million out of school at the primary level and 3.7 million at the junior secondary level. Without the necessary education, girls do not have the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions about their lives. One of the reasons for this lack of education brings us to the C part of this countdown.
CHILD MARRIAGE
According to UNICEF, Child marriage refers to any formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of 18 and an adult or another child.
In some parts of Nigeria, female children are often exposed to early marriage without considering the mental, physical and emotional implications.