Being a girl

 'Being human'! Is not it the case that the title of our blog today reminded you of this much used phrase? Well, quoting that phrase, 'being human', can be very dangerous, right? You might crush a few unfortunate poor under the influence of liqueur, and much worse still, the Bishnoi gang might be looking for you to finish you off.

Being a girl sure is not that criminal. It is equally dangerous though. Why, the world over, the reality, supported by certified statistics, is dismal enough. Female foeticide is rampant, for instance. Apparently only one in five girls can reach the middle school. Child marriage is a fact. 

In an era when the urban, educated girls consider feminism as a passe movement, the world over the status of a girl child is deteriorating, and rapidly. 'Being Malala' is the fate most girls face even today!

Hence the relevance of the World Girl Child Day on October 11! How did it begin? Well, 1975 to 1985 was the 'decade of women'. During that decade, an international organisation, 'Plan International', encouraged girl children to be vocal about their lives.

So dismal were the facts thus found that the U.N. realised the need for an international day to raise awareness, to sensitise the world about the injustices girl children face across the globe. Realities, they are changing now as a result, though very slowly. The world over, women do face terrible violences.

Look at Iran, for instance. It can literally blow billions in encouraging Hezbollah, Hamas, and all such horrible terror groups to harass Israel. It continues to harass its own girls, too! Remember, last year itself a young girl in Iran succumbed to police brutality just because she had not covered her head 'properly'!

High time these realities change! It is the need of the hour that girls get at least the basic amenities such as, no, not primary education, but the still more basic right, the 'right to be born' at all. Though the Indian realities appear quite better, at every crossroad in a Pune aspiring to be a metro, you would find a girl child offered by her family to be 'god's'! Beginning with beggary, it is not difficult to imagine their future fate! Hence the relevance of October 11! 

Pratima@Despite apparent modernisation, the attitude to girls needs a huge overhaul, and the world over, at least via the ripple effect!