17 Yr Old Malala Wins Nobel Prize Award As We Mark International Day Of The Girl Child Today ~ BimzTheory

I heard the news yesterday of Malala Yousafzai becoming the youngest person to be awarded a Nobel prize. It is so coincidental that she was given this iconic and prestigious award just a day to the celebration of the International Day of The Girl Child.

The International Day of The Girl Child is today the 11th of October and is a day declared by the United Nations to show support for the girl child in terms of creating awareness on the struggles girls go through based on their gender in contrast to the male child in terms of access to education, nutrition, legal rights, medical care, and protection from discrimination, violence and child marriage.

This is evident in families where there are only female children and steps are being taken to get a male child or some men even stepping out of their marriages to impregnate other women because their wives don’t have male children. Case in point the local slogan in Nigeria ‘Mama na boy!!’ with so much joy and excitement when a male child is born.

Also according to reports, every year, nearly 10 million girls succumb to child marriage, and are given away as brides before the age of 18. They are not given a chance of education and are often assaulted, physically and sexually, while performing chores like fetching water or wood, or even caring for young siblings at home .

17 year old Malala is a girl from Pakistan who has been advocating for education for the girl child since she was 11 years old and was even shot in the head by the dreaded Taliban sect in 2012, but luckily for her she survived. She has spoken on many platforms worldwide in her fight for the girl child and even came to Nigeria this year in support of the missing Chibok girls.

So getting the Nobel Prize is a big deal for her as it shows all her efforts are being recognized and appreciated. The Nobel Prize is a set of international awards given in recognition of cultural or scientific advances. Yesterday, the 10th of October, Malala Yousafzai was announced as the co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy for the right of all children to education with co-recipient, 60 year old Kailash Satyarthi a children rights activist from India.

This year, the theme of the International Day of the Girl Child is Empowering Adolescent Girls. Let us start to see the girl child as very important and make sure supporting,encouraging and empowering them is very paramount.