Everyday should be ‘Girls Day’

Yesterday, Rwandans joined the rest of the world in celebrating the International Day of the Girl Child. The Day, under the theme ‘My Life, My Right, End Child Marriage’, serves to remind all of us of the importance that we must give to the young women under our care.Rwanda has made strides in ensuring that girls are able to enjoy their childhoods without the threat of early marriage. The legal framework that we put into place, forbidding marriage for anyone under 21, has made it possible for our young women to finish school and think about their future.So, although we are only celebrating it for the first time, Rwanda has walked the walk when it comes to fighting the gender imbalances that have hindered progress in other developing nations.However, we must not take for granted the progress that we’ve made as a nation when it comes to the issues besieging our young women. Statistics show that young women are more likely to not finish secondary school than their male counterparts and they are more likely to stay at home and help with the family chores when circumstances dictate.We have the responsibility of ensuring that the gains that we’ve made are both consolidated and added upon. It is not enough to celebrate and think about our girls just once a year, but rather, we must think about their place in our society every single day.

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Everyday should be ‘Girls Day’