Today is the Day of the Girl. Since 2011 the United Nations has put aside this day to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges they face around the world. This year the focus is on “Innovating for Girls’ Education”.

It was also announced today that Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai won the EU’s Sakharov human rights prize. She is also nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize which will be announced tonight. Malala was shot in the head and neck by the Taliban on her way back from school in 2012.

If you want to learn more about ways education can change a girl’s life here are some useful links:
~ Five ways educating girls can change the world (World Vision)
~ Theme for 2013: Innovating for Girls’ Education (United Nations)
~ Girl Rising: one girl with courage is a revolution (“a new feature film about the strength of the human spirit and the power of education to change the world”)

The statistics listed below were taken from 10x10act.org

Young girls with sheep, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal.

Women operate a majority of small farms and business in the developing world. (Focus on Five)

Young school girls in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Globally, 66 million girls out of school. (UNESCO)

A young reveller during the festival of Songkran, Bangkok, Thailand.

Spot the family resemblance. Three sisters in Cipete, Jakarta, Indonesia.

A girl with an extra year of education can earn 20% more as an adult. (The World Bank)

A girl waits on her father’s horse drawn carriage, near Mandalay, Myanmar.

Young school girls in Maluku, Indonesia

A child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive past the age of 5. (UNESCO)

Girl making mats near Mandalay, Myanmar.

A young girl peers from her window in Kulti Village, Garwhal, India.

If India enrolled 1% more girls in secondary school, their GDP would rise by $5.5 billion. (CIA World Factbook) (Global Campaign for Education and RESULTS Education Fund)

Young girls by the Niger River, Segou, Mali.

75% of AIDS cases in sub-Saharan Africa—the region hardest hit by the disease—are women and girls. (UNAIDS)

Women and their girls outside a clinic in Ramelau, East Timor.

The #1 cause of death for girls 15-19 is childbirth. (World Health Organization)

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Feel free to email Jo at [email protected] with your comments/thoughts/photo aspirations. See and learn more at www.visitedplanet.com