National Girl Child Day was observed on 30 September 2021 at district and upzilla levels with the theme “We are all vocal, the world will be equal”. In this regard, to hear the voice of girl children, LRP-48 arranged a dialogue session on observing National Girl Child Day on the same day. Along with 11 girl children and 11 women (parents and members of Reflection Action Circle, run by ActionAid Bangladesh), a total of 34 participants joined at the dialogue session.
Nasreen Sultana Khanam, Mentor & Founder Member, Bright Bangladesh Forum moderated the session and described the importance on the day among the participants. To smooth the journey for girl children, the day is observed where girls must be adopted with the proper use of technology and to ensure positive parental caring and to develop friendly relations with parents to take rational decision in their life.
During the session, girls and their parents shared their experiences and struggles to draw attention towards to community and to representative of government stakeholder. In this regard, Ria (14) shared that “when we go outside, male persons often make bad comments to us. Male at every age makes this comment. We try to ignore those but makes us upset. Therefore, girls do not feel safe at outside. On the other hand, many girls are also struggling among themselves due to physical and mental changes in adolescent age. But my mother supports me a lot to go forward that inspires me to overcome all these hurdles”. Besides, she also shared that the toilets at schools are not clean and good enough for girls to use that also leads to health hazards.
In line with the children, a parent, Fahima (36), secretary of Reflection Action Circle, continued that “in tour childhood, we faced social challenges even if we talked with boys. If any neighbor saw to speak with anyone boy, they used to compline to our parents; and so, we were scolded at home. But the boys never faced such situation. Now we do not want such discrimination towards our girl children”.
Another parent and member of Reflection Action Circle, Sahin (27) said that “until the age of 10-12 years, generally every child access freedom. However, with the age, gradually this freedom has been curtailed. Basically, the male figures around us creates hurdles for girls. So, going outside for girls and talking with boys are being restricted slowly. At our childhood, we were stopped to go outside or to play out”.
She further added, “Due to different reasons, there is child marriage in our community in these days too. As a circle member, I talk to parents and try to stop child marriage with the help of social elite in our community. However, it is not always possible to stop. Sometimes, girls at the age of 14-15 years, being in relation and has got married by themselves. For this reason, too, parents sometimes prefer for early marriage for their girls. For these cases, it requires to develop good and friendly relations among parents and children, so that girls can take rational decision in their life”.
Boishakhi (18), a youth member shared that “child is our future nation. At this age, it is the time to build, to study and skill development to make ready for future”. Along with this, Habiba Khanam, ActionAid Bangladesh, said that “girls must study and make them ready for future. They must grow themselves as the role model to inspire the other girls at their community”.
Lastly the special guest at the dialogue session, Shahin Akhter Rosy, Women Councilor, (Ward-17-19) in Chittagong City Corporation said that “in our country, the discrimination between girl and boy child has begun from family. If the parents of a girl child do not overcover the mentality to indiscriminate their girl from the boy child, then it is not possible to stop violence against girl and women and to establish an equal society. The Government of Bangladesh is trying to stop early child marriage. The mission of government is also possible to bring success when we consciously work for it. Parents also need to change their view regarding their girl’s life and work accordingly. Government is following strict rules to stop early marriage. In this regard, government is firm to maintain the birth certificate of children for marriage. Along with the government, parents must provide correct information to issue the certificate with accurate age”. She also mentioned that “people should call to 999 to get immediate support in case of violence against women and eve teasing. Besides, there is Bangladesh Legal Aid Committee to get legal support in case of violence against women. If we are communicated about the incident, we also provide support and link up with District Legal Aid Committee if necessary. If there is any incident, we must speak up immediately. Sometimes, to get instant support, we will communicate with community police force. She continued, mother should be friendly with their friends; so that children can share their problems and issues without any fear”.
