#NationalGirlChildDay

 

The 24th of January is #NationalGirlChildDay.

Our children are precious assets, even in a country like ours, where patriarchy has ruled over centuries. In many places, boys are idolised while girls are looked upon as burdens, meant to be given away in marriage. Boys are considered the wealth of the family, while girls are dubbed 'paraya dhan'. All this has done is to make society a skewed one, where the chips are firmly in favour of the boy.

Everywhere we look, we find that girls have to prove their worth, and come up the hard way, their 'hard' way being harder than it is for their male counterparts. The world has become an immensely hazardous place for them.

What can we do to make the world safer for the girl child and the woman she grows up to be? There is only one long-term solution.

Educate parents across the board. Prove to them that boys and girls are equally precious. Both need nurturing, both need protection. Both need to be taught the right values of life - self-respect, and respect for one another, respect for the old and the young, respect for all living creatures. These values cannot be taught like school lessons; they need to be caught as children grow, and it is up to all the adults they come in contact with to ensure that they reiterate these values constantly.

The most difficult thing to change is a stagnant mindset. For it to flow freely, much work has to be done - digging, watering and seeding, along with constant encouragement. Words can create a positive change. Hopefully, actions will then follow...

The 24th of January is #NationalGirlChildDay. Let's make it count.

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