Updated: October 1, 2025
The United Nations marks October 11 as the International Day of the Girl since 2012. International Day of the Girl focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights.
United Nations
International Day of the Girl Child
Shaped through consultations with girls organizations, UN partners and, most importantly, girls themselves, the 2025 International Day of the Girl theme is ‘The girl I am, the change I lead: Girls on the frontlines of crisis’.
All around the world, girls are stepping up to meet today’s biggest challenges. They are organizing in their communities, fighting for climate justice, demanding an end to violence and reimagining their futures. Girls are asking to be seen not only for the challenges they face, but for who they are and the solutions they bring. Yet, too often, their voices go unheard, their actions ignored, their needs and rights pushed aside.
As we mark 30 years since the Beijing Declaration – the world’s blueprint for gender equality – International Day of the Girl is a rallying cry to see girls for who they truly are, to listen to their voices and to recognize their limitless potential.
For girls aren’t waiting for a better world, they are building it.
On this International Day, stand with girls and support their leadership. Your voice matters too.
- Share girls’ stories. Celebrate their achievements and amplify their voices.
- Advocate for change. Call for policies that protect girls’ rights and enable their leadership—now and in the future.
- Create girl-led spaces. Wherever you have influence, support safe spaces where girls can connect, learn, and get the support they need.
- Lend your voice. Call for dedicated funding and programs that meet the unique needs of girls in crisis situations—including health, education, mental well-being, and support for adolescent mothers.
When we invest in girls, we create a more equal, just and hopeful world – for everyone.
UNICEF
Five game-changing solutions with and for adolescent girls: A partnership brief
For Every Girl
1. health services that protect against cervical cancer, HIV, and maternal mortality
2. a life free from malnutrition and anemia
3. a quality education that provides learning, relevant skills, and agency to chart her own course
4. safety and freedom from violence and harmful practices
5. economic support to expand opportunities and the power to determine her future
Adolescent girls’ rights
Discrimination shows up in countless ways across every country and culture. But no matter where you look, one group stands universally more likely to suffer exclusion based simply on how they’re born: Girls.
What needs to happen
Thirty years after 189 Governments endorsed the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the world must follow through on its promise to ensure every girl has the chance to fulfill her potential.
UNICEF is calling on governments and the international community to:
– invest more to protect adolescent girls’ rights and scale up programs to meet their unique needs.
– ensure adolescent girls have a seat at the table to help shape the policies that affect their lives.
– challenge harmful gender norms and stereotypes by recognizing girls as equal and spotlighting their roles as leaders, innovators and changemakers.
– support civil society and elevate the voices of allies and defenders of girls’ rights in our communities.
Information for activists
Activists around the globe are calling on leaders to deliver on the 2030 promise. From guaranteeing girls’ education, to banning female genital mutilation, an entire generation is speaking out for one another – for girls they’ve never met, in places they’ve never been. Here are some of the issues they’re tackling: gender equality, girls’ education, female genital mutilation, child marriage, menstrual hygiene, and sexual violence against children.
UNICEF’s 2021 Generation Equality Forum – Tech Trailblazers, Teen Girl Activists, Coping with COVID-19, and Girls’ Satellites
UN Women
Thirty years of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: Achieving gender equality, the rights and empowerment of women and girls
Girls – leading from the front of their future
Visit UN Women In Focus webpages for past International Day of the Girl Child information:
2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012
UNESCO
Strategy for gender equality in and through education 2019-2025
Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education
International Day of the Girl – Girl Scouts
What Girl Activists Across the World Are Calling For In 2024 – Plan International
17 kids’ books to celebrate International Day of the Girl – Motherly
Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriages – Girls Not Brides
Zonta International is a leading global organization of individuals working together to build a better world for women and girls.
Zonta is dedicated to achieving gender equality in education and supports scholarships, fellowships and awards for women and girls pursuing education and careers in these traditionally male-dominated fields.
– Amelia Earhart Fellowship
– Women in Business Scholarship
– Women in STEM Scholarship
– Young Women in Leadership (formerly Young Women in Public Affairs) Award
Zonta International partners include UNFPA, UNICEF USA, Girls Not Brides, Coalition to End Violence Against Women and Girls Globally and Women’s Empowerment Principles.
Zonta Club of Greater Queens, a member club of Zonta International, has supported the Center for the Women of New York over the years.