A new United Nations report shows that women’s and children’s health have backslid due to the impacts of the pandemic, conflict and climate change. The study underlined that more than 45 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition.
Gülseren Onanç
October 11 is being celebrated as the International Day of the Girl Child for the last ten years. In 2012, the United Nations member states declared 11 October as International Day of the Girl Child, aiming to support and empower girls and ensure their full and effective enjoyment of their human rights. But the situation has not been very encouraging for girls in recent years. Data demonstrates that girls around the world and in Turkey are cut off from education, pushed into child labor and forced into early marriages.
More than 1.5 million girls in Turkey are away from education, 866 thousand girls are out of school
Association for the Support of Contemporary Living(ÇYDD) President Prof. Dr. Ayşe Yüksel drew attention to the discrimination experienced by girls on the field of education and asked the authorities, “Why are 866 thousand girls not in school?” Yüksel said, “As the level of education rises, girls’ access to education decreases. 195 thousand girls in primary school, 298 thousand in secondary school and 373 thousand in high school age cannot go to school. The number of girls away from school reaches 866 thousand in total. When we add our girls studying in open education to this number, more than 1.5 million. This picture is unacceptable!” she says.
Refugees are Facing Period Poverty
In Turkey, which hosts nearly 4 million refugees and asylum seekers, a quarter of the refugees are women and girls of reproductive age. According to the UNFPA report, one out of every two women and girls cannot access hygienic menstrual products because they are too expensive.
130 million girls of school age in the world are out of school
130 million girls around the world do not go to school. While gender inequality was a widespread injustice before the pandemic, this injustice has grown exponentially with the negative effects of the pandemic. It is estimated that 11 million more girls may not be able to return to school following the pandemic.
“Let’s believe in girls and remove the obstacles in front of them”
UNICEF Turkey Representative Regina De Dominicis said, “There are 600 million adolescent girls in our world and they will constitute the largest generation of female leaders in history. But on one condition: If we meet them with the right opportunities and equip them with the right skills. “On this Day of the Girl Child, we invite governments, our stakeholders, communities and families to believe in girls and unite to remove barriers to girls so they can advance and contribute to their communities.”
We must give girls the freedom to choose their own path without burdening them with the role of mother or the task of saving the world.
İlayda Eskitaşçıoğlu, who works in the fields of gender equality, sustainable development, reproductive rights and child labor, emphasizes that we need to believe in the potential of girls and prepare them for the future, but we need to enable them to make their own decisions and chart their own path without burdening them with the role of motherhood and saving the world.
Will there be a ministry that deals with human rights and equality policies in the new administration?
While the United Nations was waiting for governments to remove the barriers in front of girls on October 11, the women’s agenda of masculine politics in Turkey focused solely on the headscarf issue.
While approaching the elections academic Serpil Sancar asks opposition parties: “If the incumbent changes in the elections, will there be a ministry or an expert institution/organization that will reconsider human rights and equality policies?” This question is more relevant than ever.
As Serpil Sancar puts it, independent non-governmental organizations that are defenders of women’s rights and human rights in Turkey have expectations from the opposition promising a new approach. Expectations have not yet been met. However, it is necessary to examine closely how effective civil society can form the communication between civil society and politics.
Academic Fuat Keyman said, “For the last 10 years, there has been a period of weakening and ineffectiveness of civil society in the world and in Turkey. If our preference is for a more democratic, fair, equal, conscientious and well-governed Turkey, we know that political parties, leaders are not the sole agents. Civil society has important role and contribution to play with its actors. It can promote discourse, activities and guidance.
Politics and civil society diverged
According to the research conducted by the YADA foundation, the field of both politics and civil society has narrowed. Politics and civil society have drifted apart. While civil society insists on freedom of thought and expression from the political sphere, politics sees civil society only as solely “a demander”.
To end, I want to ask echo the silent cries of girls without access to education, facing poverty, sexual abuse, child marriage. We are responsible for being the voice of girls whose voices are silenced. We must organize more effective non-governmental organizations and establish healthy communication with politics so that they can access their most basic rights.