Girls study in an open-air school near Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

On October 11, 2012, the pyramids in Egypt, Niagara Falls in Canada, and other famous landmarks around the world were lit with pink lights. These light displays helped celebrate the first-ever International Day of the Girl Child. More than 500 events were held on all seven continents to celebrate this new important day.

A Canadian group called “Because I Am a Girl” first proposed the idea of a day for girls at the United Nations General Assembly. On December 19, 2011, the General Assembly officially declared that October 11, 2012 would be the first annual International Day of the Girl Child. The term “girl child” is used to call attention to the idea that girls under 18 years of age face different issues than adult women.

One of the main goals of International Day of the Girl Child is to help every girl in the world have the same rights to education that boys have. Two-thirds of the world’s children who do not attend school are girls. Also, girls in some countries do not get the same medical care and nutrition that boys do. On October 11, many girls spoke out at events around the world against this unfair treatment.

In Mumbai, India, a special concert was held for International Day of the Girl Child. All the groups played songs related to the theme “Because I Am a Girl.” An all-day event in Toronto, Canada, included a concert and an art exhibit. In Harare, Zimbabwe, about 2,000 girls gathered to listen to speeches and watch people perform dances and plays. There was even a discussion about the importance of education for girls at McMurdo Station, a research center in Antarctica.

Image credit: ©Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/GettyImages

Related Links

• International Day of the Girl Events
  Look at a map of the world and click on places to see different events that happened on International Day of the Girl Child.