Oct. 11, 2015 marked the fifth annual International Day of the Girl Child, a day dedicated to the celebration and affirmation of girls around the world. On Saturday, Oct. 17, Saskatoon will be hosting its very own local version of this event.

International Day of the Girl Child was created by the United Nations to raise awareness of the issues that girls face every single day. After realizing that girls worldwide are generally underprivileged compared to their male peers, it was clear that the world shouldn’t ignore the inequalities that plague an entire gender anymore. International Day of the Girl, as it is usually shortened to, serves as a way for activists, groups and communities to come together and work towards creating a future of gender equality.

While International Day of the Girl is a worldwide initiative, it has been brought to Saskatoon by organizer Paula Bruckard. Bruckard first started celebrating International Day of the Girl in 2012, with the first official Saskatoon event held in October 2013. For Bruckard, it was all about taking the global concept and making it apply locally.

“We try to do it as an awareness raising of the issues that girls do face, both internationally and locally… because they do face issues. Equality’s not here yet,” Bruckard said.

The Saskatoon event will be held at Georges Vanier School, kicking off at 1 p.m. with a showing of the documentary Miss Representation. The film exposes the ugly truth about women’s representation in the media.

Following the show is an art workshop with local artist Monique Martin, whose work has been displayed in exhibitions across North America, Europe and Australia. Participants will get to share their feelings on gender equality with Martin and help create a unique piece of collaborative art. 

Finally, a panel discussion featuring women from the Saskatoon community will talk about what individuals can do to combat gender inequalities and stereotypes.

The event will bring together women of all ages and backgrounds from the Saskatoon area, but it won’t just be females either.

“We are inviting women, men, girls and boys to empower a girl in their lives,” reads the description on the event’s Eventbrite page.

According to the official Day of the Girl website, women make up 65 per cent of the world’s adult illiterate population. One in seven girls in developing countries are married before the age of 15, and one in five high school girls have been sexually or physically abused by an intimate partner. Even worse, girls usually receive the least amount of help for these issues out of any group.

Yet we need not be discouraged by these statistics. There are many things that we, as students, can do to make the world a better place for girls. Events such as International Day of the Girl Saskatoon are meant to be a celebration for promoting empowerment.

For university students who want to get involved with International Day of the Girl, or gender equality work in general, Bruckard has a few suggestions.

“Coming along is the biggest thing, and the other thing we’re encouraging too is mentorship. So we’re giving recommendations of where people can go and mentor. So if university students have younger sisters or younger nieces, they can bring them along too, to just start the discussion,” Bruckard said.

Bruckard believes that students’ contributions are important to creating a more equal future.

“If the university students have an awareness and they want to bring people, if they want to have the conversation, if they want to write their own stories, then people become aware that everyone is more complex than just a stereotype,” Bruckard said.

While Bruckard knows that International Day of the Girl is about shining a light on hardships that girls face, she also believes that it’s about a lot more than just that.

“It’s to raise awareness, but also to celebrate the power and possibility of girls because they’re pretty awesome, really.”

For more information on Saskatoon’s International Day of the Girl community, visit facebook.com/IDGSaskatoon.

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Image: Jeremy Britz/Graphics Editor