International Day of the Girl 2022

A message from Girl Guides NSW, ACT & NT’s Lily M, Youth Advisory Committee Chair, and Cassie Talbot, Young Women Lead.?

Every year for the past ten years, the United Nations has recognised October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child (IDG). For a girl-led youth organisation, this day is an important one. Girl Guides NSW, ACT & NT recognises the opportunity this day provides us to celebrate girls and all their wonderful potential. We recognise and applaud their strength as young leaders and are inspired by their growing influence on policies and decision making that directly affect them and their future world.??

You only need to think of the vast and prolific impact of 15-year-old Greta Thunberg’s decision to hold a sign saying, “School Strike for Climate”, to truly appreciate the power girls have in shaping the world and carving their own way.?

International Day of the Girl is also an opportunity to pause and reflect on the challenges girls still face to their education, their physical and mental wellness, and the protections needed for a life without violence. While we have come so far in the last decade to advance equal opportunity and fulfillment of human rights, investment in girls’ rights remains limited. Compounded by climate change, COVID-19, and humanitarian conflict, girls’ rights have never been so pertinent to our collective growth and prosperity. By advocating for girls, we’re advancing for an equal future where everyone is empowered.?

Lily has been a proud Girl Guide for over 9 years, and credits Girl Guides as shaping her to become who she is currently.??

Lily said that “being a Guide means that the International Day of Girl is highly important, as it creates a platform for women and girls to speak about challenges, issues and problems that may need to be fixed or overcome.?

To Lily, celebrating the International Day of Girl “means I am not only able to be thankful for what I currently have, but I am also able to be extremely grateful for the women who spoke up and fought for the rights that are given to me today; as well as enabling me to look towards the future and stand for a positive change. ?

“Guiding allows me to believe in myself, and for what I stand for, and this is the very epitome of what the International Day of Girl means to me.”??

Cassie has been a proud Member of Girl Guides NSW, ACT & NT for 18 years and as Young Women Lead, represents women aged 18 – 30, leading them toward greater opportunities to thrive.??

Reflecting on International Day of the Girl, Cassie says that she is “acutely aware of the impact Girl Guides has on empowering girls and young women to discover their potential as leaders of their world. Alongside an international community of women who wish to see girls grow, our Movement helps make an equal future a reality.”??

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